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418 / 1113 · Psalms 140 · The United Kingdom · Traditionally David's lifetime, c. 1000 BC (by its heading; debated)

Tongues Sharp as a Serpent's

Debated
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A rumour forwarded on a phone can travel through a whole town before the person it names has even woken up. By noon a shopkeeper has lost customers, a young woman's marriage talks have stalled, a pastor is facing a meeting. The words were cheap to send and costly to receive. Psalm 140 knows that kind of attack. Its speaker faces people who plan harm in their hearts and stir up conflict every day, whose tongues are sharpened like a snake's. He cannot outshout them, so he turns to God.

Where it sits in the story: In Act 3 David's life is threatened as often by words as by swords: Doeg's report to Saul, Ziba's slander of Mephibosheth, Shimei's curses on the road. Psalm 140, in the last group of psalms headed 'of David', gathers that experience into a prayer. Paul later quotes its image of venom under the lips in his portrait of universal human sin (Romans 3:13).

What this chapter is doing: To bring violence and slander before God as judge, trusting him to protect the one attacked, to turn evil plans back on those who make them, and to defend the afflicted.

Why it is read here: This psalm carries David's name (or sits in the David collection), but no heading ties it to an event. We gather these near the end of David's life — 'the sweet psalmist of Israel' (2 Samuel 23:1) — rather than guess an occasion for each. 'Of David' can mean by, for, or in the tradition of David.
The walk-through
  • 140:1–5 — Rescue me from evil and violent men, the speaker prays. They devise evil and stir up war, their tongues sharp as a serpent's, with viper's poison under their lips. They have hidden traps, cords and nets along his path.
  • 140:6–8 — He answers them with a confession: you are my God. The Lord is the strength of his salvation, who covered his head on the day of battle. He asks God not to grant the wicked their desires.
  • 140:9–11 — Let the harm their lips intend cover their own heads. The speaker asks for burning coals to fall on them and for the slanderer not to be established in the land. Their own mischief should hunt them down.
  • 140:12–13 — The psalm ends in certainty: the LORD upholds the cause of the afflicted and brings justice for the poor. The upright will give thanks to his name and live in his presence.
What it showsThe 'Selah' markings and the heading for the choirmaster point to use in worship. Romans 3:13 quotes verse 3, showing how the psalm was read in the first century.
Where the evidence stopsNo enemies or events are named, and 'of David' may mean by, for or in the tradition of David. Its prayers against enemies raise the same hard questions as other imprecatory psalms, and readers weigh them differently.

Key verse: Psalm 140:12  ·  So what: Slander is one of the hardest wrongs to fight, because every attempt to answer it spreads it further. Psalm 140 does not tell the victim to stay silent before God. It prays hard, even harshly, but it hands the reckoning to God and ends on his care for the powerless. That ending matters for anyone whose reputation is in other people's hands.

← Known, Searched and Knit TogetherYou have just read Psalm 139, a meditation on being fully known by God. Next comes Psalm 141, an evening prayer asking God to guard the speaker's own mouth.Prayer Rising Like Incense →
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