Psalm 140 explained: A Prayer Against Lying, Violent Enemies

Enemies with poisoned tongues (vv. 1-3)

The writer faces people who plot harm, keep stirring up conflict, and use words that wound like snake venom. The Hebrew heading links the psalm to David, and older readers suggested enemies from different points in his life, such as King Saul or Absalom's adviser Ahithophel, but no one knows the actual situation.

Hidden traps on the path (vv. 4-5)

The pictures come from hunting: snares, cords and nets laid out of sight along a trail. The danger is quiet scheming meant to make the writer stumble, not open attack.

You are my God (vv. 6-8)

The writer turns to speak directly to God, picturing God as a helmet guarding their head in battle; the Hebrew can be read as 'you shield' or 'you have shielded', so translations differ on whether this is present trust or memory of past rescue. They ask that the schemers' plans fail, so the wicked do not grow even prouder from success.

Let their harm come back (vv. 9-11)

This is a blunt call for the enemies' ruin: that their own spiteful words would bury them, and that fire and deep pits would swallow them for good. The Hebrew can be taken as a wish or as a confident prediction, which is why some translations read verse 11 as a prayer and others as a statement that slanderers will not last.

God defends the poor (vv. 12-13)

The psalm ends in calm confidence that the LORD takes up the cause of the poor and needy. Those who live rightly will give thanks and live in God's presence.

Key verse: Psalm 140:12

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on how to treat prayers for enemies' destruction like verses 9-11: some see them as honest cries for justice that leave revenge to God, while others see them as words that Jesus' teaching to love enemies moves beyond.

Something to think about

When someone has deeply wronged you, what do you actually do with the anger, and what would it be like to say it as plainly as this psalm does?