Psalm 141 A Psalm of David.

 ¹Lord, I cry out to You; Make haste to me!

Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.

²Let my prayer be set before You as incense,

The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

³Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;

Keep watch over the door of my lips.

⁴Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,

To practice wicked works

With men who work iniquity;

And do not let me eat of their delicacies.

⁵Let the righteous strike me;

It shall be a kindness.

And let him rebuke me;

It shall be as excellent oil;

Let my head not refuse it.

For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked.

⁶Their judges are overthrown by the sides of the cliff,

And they hear my words, for they are sweet.

⁷Our bones are scattered at the mouth of the grave,

As when one plows and breaks up the earth.

⁸But my eyes are upon You, O God the Lord;

In You I take refuge;

Do not leave my soul destitute.

⁹Keep me from the snares they have laid for me,

And from the traps of the workers of iniquity.

¹⁰Let the wicked fall into their own nets,

While I escape safely.

Commentary

Vs. 1 “Lord, I cry out to You; Make haste to me!

Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.”

The prayer of the godly is always done in earnest, David then as a man of God prays such a prayer crying out to the Lord to hear him, (for David does not assume upon Him), rather in a passionate plea he now asks Him to give ear to his voice when He cries out to Him.

Vs. 2 “Let my prayer be set before You as incense,

The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”

David’s request of the Lord now draws upon the most sacred; for he asks that his prayer be set before the Lord as incense; the holy incense which was offered morning and evening upon the altar of incense in the Tabernacle and then the Temple, which was also placed upon the sacrifices of the saints, and whose fragrance filled the sacred space of the Lord. Thus the holy aroma that was so well pleasing to the Lord, which was to be offered to Him alone, and to be used by (and created by) no one else except His priests, such then is David’s request of the Lord to regard his prayer to Him, to take note of the lifting of his hands to Him as the evening sacrifice.

Vs. 3-4 ³Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;

Keep watch over the door of my lips.

⁴Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,

To practice wicked works

With men who work iniquity;

And do not let me eat of their delicacies.

Having first looked heavenward, David now looks inward, looks at himself and sees the many vulnerabilities that exist in a man, that exist in him. Therefore, he now asks the Lord to set a guard over his mouth, to keep watch of the doors of his lips. For David’s deep concern was that he would not speak things unbecoming a man of God; that he would not be a partaker in foolish speaking, or be like those who give themselves over to brazenly speak whatever evil thoughts and desires come to their minds. For he wanted his person and life to reflect the Person and life of the Lord. And as for his heart, David knew that the heart was deceitful above all things, that it can lead you astray (Jer. 17:9-10; Matt. 15:16-20). Therefore, he prays that the Lord not incline his heart to any evil thing, (for what man can trust himself to direct his own life by his own heart and not fall into sin). And David did not want to end up practicing wicked works with men who work iniquity, with men (especially in power) who always seem to prosper through the same. For compromise and iniquity always starts out small but only grows worse in time. And David did not want to be lured by their delicacies, to start coveting what they had, and then become a partaker (more like a slave to them in it, consider Prov. 23:1-3). These then are important prayers to pray for anyone in, or looking to fulfilling leadership roles.

Vs. 5 “Let the righteous strike me;

It shall be a kindness.

And let him rebuke me;

It shall be as excellent oil;

Let my head not refuse it.

For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked.

Therefore, David’s prayer is that the Lord direct the righteous to him, to make them be his Godly counselors. Indeed, he says let them strike me, that is strongly rebuked me when I go astray, and it shall be kindness to me, to receive their Godly rebukes rather than the flattering and deceitful words and “kisses” of wicked counselors (consider Prov. 27:6). David goes on calling it as excellent as the anointing oil on one’s head, therefore he says let my head not refuse it, because by it I am being and sanctified and purified, yes, receiving and heeding Godly rebukes always makes one stronger! For David’s prayer, his desire, (every righteous leader’s desire), is that the wicked be thwarted at every crooked turn that they take, for his (our prayer) is always against the deeds of the wicked, amen!

Vs. 6 “Their judges are overthrown by the sides of the cliff,

And they hear my words, for they are sweet.”

And so, it is David being strengthened in righteousness now executes the judgment of the Lord on their crooked judges, and when the people hear his words, they are sweet to them, for by them they get truth and justice done for them.

Vs. 7 “Our bones are scattered at the mouth of the grave,

As when one plows and breaks up the earth.”

David now switches from his himself to including all the people of God, who have been made their victims; whose bones have been scattered on the ground (and not buried in the grave as they should have been), making an analogy then of the plow breaking up the earth, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave (i.e. Sheol), and are now lying in wait for their redemption.

Vs. 8 “But my eyes are upon You, O God the Lord;

In You I take refuge;

Do not leave my soul destitute.”

Nonetheless, David’s focus is firmly on our God the Lord. The One in whom he (we) take refuge. For our soul’s redemption is in Him. Therefore he asks the Lord our God that he not leave his soul destitute, (that is leave He not leave him without redemption).

Vs. 9-10 “Keep me from the snares they have laid for me,

And from the traps of the workers of iniquity.”

¹⁰Let the wicked fall into their own nets,

While I escape safely.

In concluding this Psalm, David once again asks the Lord to keep him from the snares and traps that his enemies, God’s enemies, all the workers of iniquity who have set themselves against Him have laid for him. Indeed, let all the wicked fall into their own snares, while I escape safely.

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.