Psalm 141 Lexham English Bible
Prayer for God’s Help in Maintaining Integrity
A psalm of David.[a]
141 I call on you, O Yahweh; hasten to me.
Listen to my voice when I call to you.
2 Let my prayer be set before you as incense,
the lifting up of my palms as the evening offering.
3 Set a guard, O Yahweh, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,
to practice wicked deeds
with men who do iniquity;
and do not let me eat of their delicacies.
5 Let a righteous one strike me in kindness,
and let him chasten me.
It is oil for my head;[b] let not my head refuse.
For still my prayer is against their evil deeds.
6 When their judges are thrown down the sides of a cliff,[c]
then they will understand that my words were pleasant.
7 As when one plows and breaks up the earth,
so our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
8 But[d] my eyes are toward you, O Yahweh, my Lord;
I have taken refuge in you. Do not lay bare my soul.[e]
9 Protect me from the grasp[f] of the trap they have laid for me,
and from the snares of evildoers.
10 Let the wicked fall into their[g] nets,
while I escape altogether.
Footnotes
- Psalm 141:1 The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm
- Psalm 141:5 Or “It is choice oil”
- Psalm 141:6 Or “are dropped into the hands of the Rock,” that is, Yahweh. The interpretation of vv. 6–7 is uncertain.
- Psalm 141:8 Or “Because”
- Psalm 141:8 Or “Do not raze my life”
- Psalm 141:9 Literally “hand”
- Psalm 141:10 Hebrew “his”
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