Psalm 140 is not a prayer for a person experiencing a mild inconvenience. It is the cry of a man surrounded by violent and deceitful enemies. David is afflicted by men whose hearts devise evil, whose tongues carry venom, and whose hands set traps for the righteous. Yet this psalm does not teach us to panic, retaliate, or despair. It teaches us to pray. The three selahs divide the psalm into four movements, each one bringing another layer of David’s trouble before the Lord. The wicked poison with their words. They hunt with hidden traps. The righteous flee to their covenant God. And the Lord maintains the cause of the afflicted.
The Poison of the Wicked (vv. 1–3)
David begins his prayer over the poison of the wicked:
Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men;
preserve me from violent men,
who plan evil things in their heart
and stir up wars continually.
They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s,
and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah
The first words of the psalm are urgent petitions: “Deliver me” and “preserve me.” David is not merely frustrated. He is endangered and surrounded by evil, violent men. Their evil is not accidental, careless, or momentary. They “plan evil things in their heart.” Their wickedness is deliberate. It begins inwardly, in the hidden counsels of the heart, and then works itself outward in conflict, violence, and destructive speech.
This first movement emphasizes both the inner source and the verbal expression of wickedness. David is not describing ordinary disagreement or the pain of living around difficult personalities. He is describing men who deliberately seek harm, stir up conflict, and use their words as weapons. Psalm 140 does not give us permission to treat every critic as an enemy of God. But it also does not permit us to pretend that malicious speech is harmless. There are those who oppose God’s people with deceit, slander, and violence. David teaches us to bring even that before the Lord.
Verse 3 heightens the danger: “They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s, and under their lips is the venom of asps.” Their words are compared to a serpent’s bite. They do not merely speak falsely; they speak poisonously. Their speech is designed to injure, infect, and destroy.
This image connects Psalm 140 to the larger biblical theology of the tongue. In Genesis 3, the serpent destroys through deceptive speech. James says the tongue is “a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (Jas 3:8). Paul quotes Psalm 140:3 in Romans 3:13 as part of his indictment of fallen humanity: “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
That last connection is especially important. Psalm 140 is truly about David’s enemies, but Paul shows us that this poisonous speech also reveals something about the human condition. Apart from grace, the tongue becomes an instrument of death. Sin does not remain hidden in the heart. It comes out through the mouth.
David begins where the afflicted must begin. He does not answer poison with poison. He does not try to overcome the serpent’s tongue with a sharper tongue of his own. He cries out to the Lord: “Deliver me, O Lord.” The righteous bring the venom of the wicked before the God who hears, preserves, and saves.
The Traps of the Wicked (vv. 4–5)
Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
preserve me from violent men,
who have planned to trip up my feet.
The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
and with cords they have spread a net;
beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah
The wicked do not stop with poisonous words. Their words result in action. Their inward plots become outward traps. So David prays again, “Guard me, O Lord.” He knows that he cannot see every danger, expose every scheme, or avoid every snare by his own wisdom. He needs the Lord to preserve him.
He uses hunting imagery. The wicked plan to trip his feet. They hide a trap. They spread a net with cords. They set snares beside the way. David is facing not only open opposition. He is facing concealed malice. His enemies are not merely reacting to him; they are waiting for him. Their hatred is patient, hidden, and calculated.
Psalm 140 recognizes that wickedness takes more than one form. Some wickedness is loud and obvious. Other wickedness is quiet and strategic. Some attacks come openly, while others are set beside the way, hidden until the righteous stumble into them. David teaches us that both kinds of danger may be brought before the Lord.
Verse 5 identifies the deeper source of these schemes: “The arrogant have hidden a trap for me.” Their plots arise from pride. They act as though they are sovereign. They assume they can set the terms, control the outcome, and trap the servant of the Lord. But hidden traps are not hidden from God. What David cannot see, God sees. What David cannot untangle, God can overturn.
The selah after verse 5 deepens the sense of danger. David has now described enemies who are poisonous in speech and predatory in action. The pause gives the congregation time to feel the helplessness of being hunted. It also prepares us for the turn that comes next. After describing the poison and the traps, David confesses, “You are my God” (v. 6).
The application is not paranoia. David is not teaching us to assume that everyone is plotting against us. He is teaching us where to turn when real evil schemes against God’s people. The Lord is not naive. He is not absent or powerless. The righteous may pray with David “Guard me, O Lord” because the God who sees every hidden snare is able to preserve his people from them all.
The Refuge of the Righteous (vv. 6–8)
After describing the poison and traps of the wicked, David turns to the Lord:
I say to the Lord, You are my God;
give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O Lord!
O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation,
you have covered my head in the day of battle.
Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked;
do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted! Selah
The first two movements describe the enemy. This third movement confesses the Lord. David moves from danger to covenant confidence: “I say to the Lord, You are my God.” This is the center of the psalm. David is not merely asking God to intervene as a distant power. He is praying as one who belongs to the Lord.
This confession anchors the prayer. David is surrounded by evil, violent, and arrogant men and slanderers and schemers. But over against them all, he says, “You are my God.” This is not a small statement. It means the Lord is his refuge, his defender, his covenant God, and the one to whom he may freely bring his pleas for mercy.
David’s confidence does not rest in his innocence alone. It does not rest in his skill, his strength, or his ability to outmaneuver his enemies. His confidence rests in the Lord who has bound himself to his people. The covenant name, Lord, dominates the psalm because covenant mercy is David’s hope in the midst of danger.
David also remembers the Lord’s past protection: “O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.” The image may suggest a helmet in battle, but the broader point is clear. God has shielded David when violence surrounded him. His present fear is steadied by the memory of God’s past faithfulness. David is not saying, “I have never been in danger.” He is saying, “I have been in danger before, and the Lord has preserved me.”
This is a necessary pattern in prayer. The afflicted believer does not deny the danger. But neither does he interpret the danger apart from the Lord’s faithfulness. David’s life, and indeed all of Scripture, bears witness to the God who preserves his people through trouble.
So David prays not only for protection but also for the frustration of wickedness: “Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked; do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted!” He knows that if the wicked get what they want, they will not become humble. They will be emboldened. Sin often grows more arrogant when it appears to prosper. Therefore, David asks God to stop evil before it is strengthened by success.
The selah after verse 8 asks us to consider the moral danger of wickedness succeeding. If evil plots are furthered, the wicked are exalted. If the wicked are exalted, the afflicted are crushed. David’s prayer is not petty revenge. It is a plea for moral order under the rule of God.
This is the key contrast in the psalm. The wicked plan evil, but the Lord gives mercy. The wicked set traps, but the Lord covers the head of his servant. The wicked desire exaltation, but the Lord frustrates evil plots. The righteous are not safe because they can see every danger. They are safe because they belong to the God who is the strength of their salvation.
The Justice of the Lord (vv. 9–13)
The final movement brings David’s prayer to the justice of the Lord.
As for the head of those who surround me,
let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!
Let burning coals fall upon them!
Let them be cast into fire,
into miry pits, no more to rise!
Let not the slanderer be established in the land;
let evil hunt down the violent man speedily!
I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
and will execute justice for the needy.
Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name;
the upright shall dwell in your presence.
David now prays that the evil of the wicked would return upon them: “Let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!” This is fitting reversal. They used their lips to overwhelm others; now David asks that their own mischief would overwhelm them. The same pattern continues: “Let evil hunt down the violent man speedily!” Earlier, the wicked hunted David with traps and snares. Now David prays that evil would hunt the violent man. The hunters become the hunted.
These imprecations must be handled carefully, but they must not be apologized away. David is not indulging personal vengeance. He is appealing to God’s justice. He does not take judgment into his own hands. He brings the matter before the Lord. Evil cannot be treated as morally neutral. The wicked are truly dangerous. Their violence destroys the afflicted and the needy. Therefore, the righteous may ask God to stop evil.
Prayer for judgment is not contrary to love when it is a prayer that God would defend the oppressed and uphold justice. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, and David’s prayer gives judgment to God rather than seizing it for himself. The imprecations are not a model for personal bitterness. They are a model for entrusting evil to the righteous Judge.
David then returns to the danger of wicked speech: “Let not the slanderer be established in the land.” The psalm began with serpent-like tongues, and now David prays that the slanderer would not be established. That word matters. David is not merely asking for temporary relief. He is asking that a society built on slander, violence, arrogance, and deceit would not stand. Wicked speech is not just a private sin. When slander is established, communities are corrupted, justice is perverted, and the afflicted are crushed.
But David does not end with the wicked. He ends with what he knows: “I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy.” This is the great assurance of the psalm. David moves from “Deliver me” to “I know.” The danger is still real, but his confidence is now explicit. The Lord will not abandon the cause of his suffering people. His justice may seem delayed, but it is never uncertain.
The psalm begins with evil and violent men. It ends with the righteous and upright. It begins with danger. It ends with worship. It begins with David needing deliverance. It ends with the upright dwelling in God’s presence. That final line is crucial. The goal of deliverance is not merely escape from enemies. The goal is communion with God. David wants to be delivered from the wicked so that he and the righteous may give thanks to the Lord and dwell before him.
Psalm 140 teaches the church to pray honestly, suffer faithfully, refuse revenge, and hope confidently in the Lord who maintains the cause of the afflicted.
The Lord Will Maintain the Cause of the Afflicted
This psalm finds its deepest fulfillment in Christ. Jesus is the righteous sufferer who was surrounded by evil men. His enemies plotted against him. They tried to trap him in his words. They stirred up crowds. They used false witnesses. Their tongues were sharp with accusation. Their hands became violent. Their schemes led to the cross. Yet Jesus did not return poison for poison. He entrusted himself to the One who judges justly.
At the cross we see both the wickedness Psalm 140 describes and the justice it seeks. Human evil did its worst against the Son of David. But God overturned the schemes of the wicked through the resurrection. The trap became the triumph. The cross became the victory. The rejected Righteous One was vindicated.
And in Christ, the final promise of the psalm belongs to God’s people: “Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence.” We do not dwell in God’s presence because we have never had poisonous lips ourselves. Paul’s use of Psalm 140:3 in Romans 3 reminds us that this psalm also exposes us. Apart from grace, the venom is under our lips too. We need more than protection from evil outside us. We need deliverance from evil within us.
Christ gives both. He forgives the sins of our lips. He cleanses the poison of the heart. He protects his afflicted people. He will judge all unrepentant wickedness. And he brings the righteous into the presence of God.
©Everett Henes. All Rights Reserved.
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Everett Henes
Everett Henes (MDiv, ThM, DMin) is pastor of Hillsdale Orthodox Presbyterian Church, where he has served since 2008. He is husband to Kimberly and father of five children and grandfather of five (and counting!). He teaches US History and Philosophy of History for Jackson College in Michigan. He is currently working towards a PhD in Humanities with a focus in US Religious History from Faulkner University. In his spare time, he enjoys competing in powerlifting and strongman and teaching homeschoolers Taekwondo.
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