For the director. A melody of David.
140 Rescue me, O Jehovah, from evil men;
Protect me from violent men,+
2 Those who scheme evil in their hearts+
And stir up conflict all day long.
3 They sharpen their tongue like that of a serpent;+
Venom of vipers is behind their lips.+ (Selah)
4 Protect me, O Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked;+
Safeguard me from violent men,
Those who scheme to trip me.
5 The haughty ones hide a trap for me;
With ropes they spread out a net beside the path.+
They set snares for me.+ (Selah)
6 I say to Jehovah: “You are my God.
Listen, O Jehovah, to my pleas for help.”+
7 O Jehovah the Sovereign Lord, my strong Savior,
You shield my head in the day of battle.+
8 Do not grant, O Jehovah, the desires of the wicked.
Do not let their plots succeed, so that they are not exalted.+ (Selah)
9 May the heads of those surrounding me
Be covered with the evil spoken by their lips.+
10 May burning coals rain down on them.+
May they be hurled into the fire,
Into deep pits,+ never to rise again.
11 May the slanderer find no place on the earth.+
May evil pursue men of violence and strike them down.
12 I know that Jehovah will defend the lowly
And give justice to the poor.+
13 Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name;
The upright will dwell before your face.+
A melody of David.
141 O Jehovah, I call on you.+
Come quickly to help me.+
Do pay attention when I call to you.+
2 May my prayer be as incense+ prepared before you,+
My uplifted hands like the evening grain offering.+
3 Station a guard for my mouth, O Jehovah,
Do set a watch over the door of my lips.+
4 Do not let my heart incline to anything bad,+
To share in vile deeds with evil men;
May I never feast on their delicacies.
5 Should the righteous one strike me, it would be an act of loyal love;+
Should he reprove me, it would be like oil on my head,+
Which my head would never refuse.+
My prayer will continue even during their calamities.
6 Though their judges are thrown down from the cliff,
The people will pay attention to my words, for they are pleasant.
7 Just as when someone plows and breaks up the soil,
So our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the Grave.
8 But my eyes look to you, O Sovereign Lord Jehovah.+
In you I have taken refuge.
Do not take away my life.
9 Protect me from the jaws of the trap they have laid for me,
From the snares of evildoers.
10 The wicked will fall into their own nets all together+
While I pass by safely.