Psalm 141, Even My Words and Thoughts

A psalm of David.

David sings an evening song of supplication and commitment.

Psalm 141:1-2, Incense and lifted hands

O LORD, I call to you;

 come quickly to me. 

Hear my voice when I call to you.

 May my prayer be set before you like incense;

 may the lifting up of my hands 

be like the evening sacrifice.

David's prayer is urgent and emotional -- and he desires that his prayer and uplifted hands will be like incense in the evening sacrifice. In many places, prayer is viewed as equivalent to a fragrant incense to God. (In the New Testament, see for example Revelation 5:8 and 8:3-4.)

Psalm 141:3-4, Words and meditations

 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD;

keep watch over the door of my lips.

 Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, 

to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; 

let me not eat of their delicacies.

David asks not ask just for righteous actions but that his thoughts and speech be righteous. He wants his heart and lips to be guarded. This echoes another request of David in Psalm 19:14.

Psalm 141:5a, Rebuke and oil

 Let a righteous man strike me--it is a kindness; 

let him rebuke me--it is oil on my head. 

My head will not refuse it. 

This passage, and the next few verses, are crabbed and difficult (Alter, Kidner.) The sense of the Hebrew seems to be that being watched, even rebuked, by righteous people is a gift (like fragrant oil on one's head; as in Psalm 133, oil serves as a valuable and uplifting perfume.)

Psalm 141:5b-7, Thrown from the cliffs

Yet my prayer is ever against the deeds of evildoers;

 their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs, 

and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.

 [They will say,] "As one plows and breaks up the earth, 

so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave."

The Hebrew text is still difficult (Alter calls it "baffling") and the NIV attempts to create a consistent interpretation here. It is unclear as to whose bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol; one interpretation is that David may be afraid that the bones of him and his compatriots are in trouble. The NIV (see the text in braces) assumes that the bones are those of David's enemies.

Psalm 141:8-10, Fixed on you

 But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD;

in you I take refuge--do not give me over to death.

 Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, 

from the traps set by evildoers.

 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, 

while I pass by in safety.

Fixing his eyes on YHWH, David expects to be saved from the traps all around him. He will pass through the minefields while his enemies are caught.

First published November 26, 2025; updated November 26, 2025