BURNING COALS
Play Audio
If you prefer listening to today’s Bible guide reading, play this audio file.
If the audio bar is not appearing, click here to play the audio.
Opening Prayer
Father, I am grateful for your Word. Thank you that I am free to read it, free to take in its life-giving truth. I lift up those who cannot openly worship you and are constrained in sharing it with others today.
Read PSALM 140
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Psalm 140[a]
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers;
protect me from the violent,
2 who devise evil plans in their hearts
and stir up war every day.
3 They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;
the poison of vipers is on their lips.[b]
4 Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from the violent,
who devise ways to trip my feet.
5 The arrogant have hidden a snare for me;
they have spread out the cords of their net
and have set traps for me along my path.
6 I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”
Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy.
7 Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer,
you shield my head in the day of battle.
8 Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord;
do not let their plans succeed.
9 Those who surround me proudly rear their heads;
may the mischief of their lips engulf them.
10 May burning coals fall on them;
may they be thrown into the fire,
into miry pits, never to rise.
11 May slanderers not be established in the land;
may disaster hunt down the violent.
12 I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor
and upholds the cause of the needy.
13 Surely the righteous will praise your name,
and the upright will live in your presence.
Footnotes
- Psalm 140:1 In Hebrew texts 140:1-13 is numbered 140:2-14.
- Psalm 140:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 5 and 8.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Think of an example of injustice in the news. How does it make you feel? How would you pray about it?Psalm 140 probably doesn’t make it into many people’s list of favorite psalms. It belongs to a category of cursing psalms, and to read it can feel distinctly unchristian. After all, didn’t Jesus clearly tell his followers to bless their enemies? What are we to make of praying that burning coals fall on those we do not like?
Many years ago, I did have cause to pray this psalm when I found myself working for a client who was so unpleasant and ungodly that I felt soiled even by being in his presence. ‘Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent’ (v 4). Even if our contact with such people might be rare, there are Christians in many parts of the world whose lives are threatened by living among the wicked and the violent. Would they pray Psalm 140 in a different way from us?
St Augustine believed that in the psalms Christ prays with and for his church. As we read them, we pray in his voice as much as ours. Read Psalm 140 with its cry for protection, justice, and even vengeance as though it is the cry of Jesus for his people. And take encouragement from the faithful ending. The Lord does secure justice for the poor.
Apply
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). Are there ways in which you can overcome evil with good today?
Closing prayer
Lord God, help me to stand against evil wherever I witness or experience it, knowing that, in you, there is protection, safety, and justice; in you is power to overcome.
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Discovery is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.