Psalms 140:6-13

6 I have said to Jehovah, `My God [art] Thou, Hear, Jehovah, the voice of my supplications.'

7 O Jehovah, my Lord, strength of my salvation, Thou hast covered my head in the day of armour.

8 Grant not, O Jehovah, the desires of the wicked, His wicked device bring not forth, They are high. Selah.

9 The chief of my surrounders, The perverseness of their lips covereth them.

10 They cause to fall on themselves burning coals, Into fire He doth cast them, Into deep pits -- they arise not.

11 A talkative man is not established in the earth, One of violence -- evil hunteth to overflowing.

12 I have known that Jehovah doth execute The judgment of the afflicted, The judgment of the needy.

13 Only -- the righteous give thanks to Thy name, The upright do dwell with Thy presence!

Psalms 140:6-13 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. This psalm, A ben Ezra says, was composed by David before he was king; and Kimchi says, it is concerning Doeg and the Ziphites, who calumniated him to Saul; and, according to our English contents, it is a prayer of David to be delivered from Saul and Doeg. The Syriac inscription is, "said by David, when Saul threw a javelin at him to kill him, but it struck the wall; but, spiritually, the words of him that cleaves to God, and contends with his enemies." R. Obadiah says, it was made at the persecution of David by Saul, which was before the kingdom of David; as the persecution (of Gog) is before the coming of the Messiah. It is indeed before his spiritual coming, but not before his coming in the flesh; and David may be very well considered in the psalm as a type of Christ, for he was particularly so in his sufferings, as well as in other things.