Psalms

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Psalm 140

1 For the music director, a psalm of David. O Lord, rescue me from wicked men. Protect me from violent men, 2 who plan ways to harm me. All day long they stir up conflict. 3 Their tongues wound like a serpent; a viper’s venom is behind their lips.⁠ (Selah) 4 O Lord, shelter me from the power of the wicked. Protect me from violent men, who plan to knock me over. 5 Proud men hide a snare for me; evil men spread a net by the path. They set traps for me. (Selah) 6 I say to the Lord, “You are my God.” O Lord, pay attention to my plea for mercy. 7 O Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, you shield my head in the day of battle. 8 O Lord, do not let the wicked have their way. Do not allow their plan to succeed when they attack. (Selah) 9 As for the heads of those who surround me—may the harm done by their lips overwhelm them. 10 May he rain down fiery coals upon them. May he throw them into the fire. From bottomless pits they will not escape.⁠ 11 A slanderer will not endure on the earth; calamity will hunt down a violent man and strike him down. 12 I know that the Lord defends the cause of the oppressed and vindicates the poor. 13 Certainly the godly will give thanks to your name; the morally upright will live in your presence.

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 140:3 and LXX Psalm 13:3

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

Summary

Psalm 140 asks to be rescued from violent men, a request that assumes the psalmist is not like them. The Greek Septuagint translation of Psalm 13 incorporates and reshapes that language, now describing everyone without exception.

Passages

Psalm 140:3

Hebrew Bible

600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

LXX Psalm 13:3

Septuagint

1 For the end, a Psalm of David. The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They have corrupted themselves, and become abominable in their devices; there is none that does goodness, there is not even so much as one. 2 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there were any that understood, or sought after God. 3 They have all gone out of the way, they have together become good for nothing, there is none that does good, no not one. Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.

100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Psalms

References

“... This quatrain is drawn verbatim from LXX Ps 13:3c-f, which in turn quotes 5:10 in the first two lines and 139:4 in the third but adapts 9:28 in the fourth. ...”

Robert Jewett, Romans: A Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007), 261.

“... As in the earlier citations, all three psalms (5, 9, 139) make distinctions between the righteous and the wicked that the catena drops (5:5, 12; 9:1-4, 12-14; 139:4, 13). The throat of sinners in v. 13 is described as a “grave that has been opened.” [...] In the second line of the quatrain, the tongue participates by its deceit in the universal lies of the human race. [...] In the third line the deadly poison of asps is spewed out by lethal words that destroy others as well as one’s self. The reference to poison [...] in this phrase with the accusative implies that the poison lies “under their lips” ready to strike the victim. ...”

Robert Jewett, Romans: A Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007), 262.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Psalms150 psalms

Compare Psalm 140:3 and LXX Psalm 13:3

Summary

Passages

Psalm 140:3

LXX Psalm 13:3

References

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