Psalms 141

LORD, I am calling out to you. Come to me quickly. Listen to my voice when I call out to you.

1Lord, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.

NoteWhere the King James prints LORD (and, in verse 8, GOD) in capital letters, it is standing in for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew consonants usually written YHWH. Jewish readers said "Adonai," meaning "my Lord," in its place, and the English translators followed that custom.

2Let my prayer rise in front of you like burning incense. Let my lifted hands be like the offering made in the evening.

2Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

NoteIncense was a mixture of fragrant gums burned on a small altar inside the sanctuary morning and evening; its smoke rose visibly upward. The "evening sacrifice" was the second of the two animal offerings made every day at the temple, at roughly the same hour. Lifting the open hands was the ordinary posture of prayer, as kneeling is for many people today. The speaker is asking that words offered away from the temple be received as those temple rituals were.

3LORD, post a guard over my mouth. Watch the door of my lips.

3Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

4Do not let my heart lean toward anything evil, so that I take part in wicked deeds with men who do wrong. And do not let me eat the fine food they enjoy.

4Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.

Note"Dainties" in 1611 English meant rich or choice food, not something delicate or fussy. In the ancient world eating at a man's table was not just a meal but a public sign of siding with him, so refusing the food and refusing the partnership are the same request.

5Let a good man strike me; that would be a kindness. Let him correct me; that would be fine oil on my head, and my head will not refuse it. And my prayer keeps going up when trouble falls on them.

5Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.

NotePouring olive oil on a guest's head was a standard mark of welcome and honor at a feast. The line turns a hard rebuke into that kind of gift. The Hebrew of the second half of this verse is damaged or obscure, and translators differ sharply: the King James reads it as "which shall not break my head," others as "let my head not refuse it." The closing clause is equally unclear, either the speaker keeps praying while disaster falls on the wicked, or he keeps praying against their evil deeds.

6When their judges are thrown down onto the rocks, they will listen to my words, because my words are pleasant.

6When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet.

NoteThe Hebrew here is among the most obscure in the Psalms, and no translation is certain. "Overthrown in stony places" most likely refers to being thrown down from a rocky cliff, a known way of executing or disposing of enemies. Who "they" and "their" are is not stated.

7Our bones lie scattered at the mouth of the grave, like wood that someone has chopped and split on the ground.

7Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.

Note"The grave" translates Sheol, the Hebrew name for the shadowy place below where all the dead were thought to go, not a place of punishment, simply the realm of the dead. The image in the second half is disputed: the Hebrew word can mean splitting wood, as the King James took it, or breaking up soil with a plow, as most modern versions read it. Either way the picture is of debris left scattered where the work was done.

8But my eyes are turned to you, LORD God. I trust in you. Do not leave me with nothing to protect me.

8But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.

9Keep me away from the traps they have set for me, and from the snares laid by people who do wrong.

9Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.

Note"Gins" is an old English word, unrelated to the drink, meaning a snare or spring-trap for catching birds and small animals. Both halves of the verse are hunting images applied to human plots.

10Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.

10Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.

Note"Whilst that I withal escape" is 1611 English for "while I at the same time pass by safely." "Withal" means "along with it" or "at the same time."