PROTECT ME—PUNISH THEM!
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 about the world news you read or watched recently. How much of this was troubling, terrible, or tragic news? Pick one situation to pray about today.
Today’s psalm contains a ‘protect me’ prayer (vv. 1–5) and a ‘punish them’ prayer (vv. 8–11). Both prayers are formulated on the basis of God’s character (vv. 6, 7, 12, 13). The psalmist (probably David) faces attack from ‘evildoers’—‘violent’, ‘wicked’, ‘arrogant’ people (vv. 1, 4, 5). Their actions were deliberate (‘devise evil plans’), devious (‘set traps’), destructive (‘stir up war’); their words were venomous (vv. 2–5). David depends on rescue and safety (vv. 1, 4) in the ‘Sovereign Lord’, whom he also addresses more personally and intimately as ‘my God’, ‘my strong deliverer’ (vv. 6, 7, emphasis added). The extent of the evil described here recalls Noah’s day, when ‘every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time’1 provoking God’s judgment against such terrible wickedness.
A judge’s verdict in favor of the innocent party invariably involves punishing the guilty. After his plea for protection, David considers the bigger picture of justice in the land. He knows that evil, if not uprooted and destroyed, ‘never to rise’ again (v. 10), will inevitably take root and ‘be established in the land’ (v. 11). Once again, his prayer is founded on God’s character: ‘I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor’ (v. 12). God had already promised, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.’2 Though David prays for terrible things to happen to evildoers (vv. 9–11), ‘these imprecations only repeat in prayer what God had already stated elsewhere would be the fate of those who were impenitent and who were persistently opposing God and his kingdom.’3 We pray, ‘your kingdom come’;4 God’s judgment is an inescapable part of this kingdom’s coming.
Apply
When evil seems to triumph, are you ever tempted to get even, to take matters into your own hands?
Closing prayer
Father, when I am angered by wickedness I see or experience, help me to seek you and trust you to bring justice.
1 Gen 6:5 2 Deut 32:35 3 Walter Kaiser, Hard Sayings of the Bible (IVP, 1996) 4 Matt 6:10
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.
Encounter with God 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.