Psalms 140:1–6

⁴⁸He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.

⁴Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.

⁴Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

²O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

³Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

¹¹Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.

¹³Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

¹JUDGE me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

¹DELIVER me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.

²Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.

³For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord.

⁴He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

⁶They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.

⁵They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?

⁶They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.

⁶For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

¹WOE to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

²And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

³Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.

¹¹There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counseller.

²⁰Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellers of peace is joy.

⁷I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

¹⁹¶ Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?

²⁰Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king’s hand.

²¹And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the Lord; for ye have compassion on me.

²²Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who hath seen him there: for it is told me that he dealeth very subtilly.

²³See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth himself, and come ye again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah.

²⁴And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon.

¹¹Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it.

¹²The Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord avenge me of thee: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.

¹AND the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon?

²Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

³And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.

⁴David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come in very deed.

⁵¶ And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched: and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him.

⁶Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee.

⁷So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him.

⁸Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time.

⁹And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?

¹⁰David said furthermore, As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish.

¹¹The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord’s anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go.

¹²So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul’s bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them.

¹³¶ Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of an hill afar off; a great space being between them:

¹⁴And David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art thou that criest to the king?

¹⁵And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord.

¹⁶This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the Lord liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the Lord’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster.

¹⁷And Saul knew David’s voice, and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king.

¹⁸And he said, Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in mine hand?

¹⁹Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go, serve other gods.

²⁰Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.

²¹¶ Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.

²²And David answered and said, Behold the king’s spear! and let one of the young men come over and fetch it.

²³The Lord render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the Lord delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord’s anointed.

²⁴And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation.

²⁵Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

¹WHY do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

²The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,

¹¹For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.

¹²They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.

³How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.

⁴Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;

³But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

¹³Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

¹⁴Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

³²At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

³For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

⁴None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

⁵They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

⁶And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

⁷For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:

⁸But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

³And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord.

⁵And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.

³⁴O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

⁴My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

¹³And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

¹³In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

¹⁸There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.

²Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp rasor, working deceitfully.

³Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.

³Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

⁴That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.

⁷Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?

¹¹Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.

⁵Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.

⁴Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

⁸Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

⁹From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.

³²The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.

³³The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.

³⁴Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

³⁵I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

³⁶Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

³⁷Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.

³⁸But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.

³⁹But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble.

⁴⁰And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.

¹GIVE ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.

²Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise;

³Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.

⁵It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.

³When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.

⁷For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.

²²Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.

²⁰Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.

²⁰And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.

²¹And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly:

²²Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Cæsar, or no?

²³But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me?

⁸⁵The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.

³Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.

⁴Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.

⁶They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.

⁹The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.

⁵³And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:

⁵⁴Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.

⁵A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.

⁴The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

⁵His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.

⁶He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.

⁷His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

⁸He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.

⁹He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.

¹⁰He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.

¹¹He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.

¹²Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.

¹¹⁰The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.

⁶⁹The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.

⁹Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.

¹⁰Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.

⁸Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

⁹From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.

¹⁰They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.

¹¹They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;

¹²Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

¹³Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

⁴Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.

¹¹Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.

¹⁸¶ Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

²O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;

¹⁴But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God.

⁵⁷Thou art my portion, O Lord: I have said that I would keep thy words.

⁵I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.

⁹And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

²⁴The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

¹I LOVE the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.

²Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

¹HEAR my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.

⁵The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

⁶The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

⁷Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

⁸When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

¹UNTO thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

²Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.

¹GIVE ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.

²Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise;

¹HEAR my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.

²I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.