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Psalm 141

A psalm of David.

O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry!
    Listen when I cry to you for help!
Accept my prayer as incense offered to you,
    and my upraised hands as an evening offering.

Take control of what I say, O Lord,
    and guard my lips.
Don’t let me drift toward evil
    or take part in acts of wickedness.
Don’t let me share in the delicacies
    of those who do wrong.

Let the godly strike me!
    It will be a kindness!
If they correct me, it is soothing medicine.
    Don’t let me refuse it.

But I pray constantly
    against the wicked and their deeds.
When their leaders are thrown down from a cliff,
    the wicked will listen to my words and find them true.
Like rocks brought up by a plow,
    the bones of the wicked will lie scattered without burial.[a]

I look to you for help, O Sovereign Lord.
    You are my refuge; don’t let them kill me.
Keep me from the traps they have set for me,
    from the snares of those who do wrong.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
    but let me escape.

Footnotes

  1. 141:7 Hebrew our bones will be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

141 Quick, Lord, answer me—for I have prayed. Listen when I cry to you for help! Regard my prayer as my evening sacrifice and as incense wafting up to you.

Help me, Lord, to keep my mouth shut and my lips sealed. Take away my lust for evil things; don’t let me want to be with sinners, doing what they do, sharing their delicacies. Let the godly smite me! It will be a kindness! If they reprove me, it is medicine! Don’t let me refuse it. But I am in constant prayer against the wicked and their deeds. 6-7 When their leaders are condemned, and their bones are strewn across the ground,[a] then these men will finally listen to me and know that I am trying to help them.

I look to you for help, O Lord God. You are my refuge. Don’t let them slay me. Keep me out of their traps. 10 Let them fall into their own snares, while I escape.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 141:6 When their leaders are condemned and their bones are strewn across the ground, literally, “As when one plows and cleaves the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”