Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 140:4
Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.
4. to overthrow my goings ] To trip me up and overthrow me. Cp. Psa 118:13. R.V. to thrust aside my steps.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
4, 5. Repeated prayer for deliverance from their plots.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked … – See the notes at Psa 71:4. This is a repetition of the prayer in Psa 140:1.
Who have purposed to overthrow my goings – To thrust me down as I go; to defeat my plans; to destroy me. They endeavor to prevent my accomplishing what I had designed to do.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Preserve me from the violent man] Saul again; who was as headstrong and violent in all his measures, as he was cruel, and inflexibly bent on the destruction of David.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Whose design and full resolution it is, if thou dost not prevent it, to overthrow my goings, or my feet or footsteps, i.e. to throw me down to the ground, to defeat all my hopes and counsels, and bring me to ruin.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2-5. This character of thewicked, and the devices planned against the pious, correspond toPsa 10:7; Psa 31:13;Psa 58:4, &c.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked,…. From falling into their hands, and the weight of them; and from their laying hands on him, being men of power and authority;
preserve me from the violent man: or men, everyone of them;
[See comments on Ps 140:1];
who have purposed to overthrow my goings: to supplant him; to cause him to stumble and fall, to his disgrace and reproach; and that they might take an advantage of him, and an occasion against him. Arama interprets it, to drive me out of the land of Israel; see 1Sa 26:1. So Christ’s enemies thought to have supplanted him, and have found something against him, to accuse him of to Caesar, Mt 22:15.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The course of this second strophe is exactly parallel with the first. The perfects describe their conduct hitherto, as a comparison of Psa 140:3 with Psa 140:3 shows. is poetically equivalent to , and signifies both the foot that steps (Psa 57:5; Psa 58:11) and the step that is made by the foot (Ps 85:14; Psa 119:133), and here the two senses are undistinguishable. They are called on account of the inordinate ambition that infatuates them. The metaphors taken from the life of the hunter (Psa 141:9; Psa 142:4) are here brought together as it were into a body of synonyms. The meaning of becomes explicable from Psa 142:4; , at hand, is equivalent to “immediately beside” (1Ch 18:17; Neh 11:24). Close by the path along which he has to pass, lie gins ready to spring together and ensnare him when he appears.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
4. Keep me, O Jehovah! To complaints and accusations he now again adds prayer, from which it appears more clearly, as I observed already, that it is God whom he seeks to be his avenger. It is the same sentiment repeated, with one or two words changed; for he had said deliver me, now he says keep me, and for the wicked man he substitutes the hand of the wicked. He had spoken of their conceiving mischief’s, now of their plotting how they might ruin a poor unsuspecting individual. What he had said of their fraud and deceit he repeats in figurative language, which does not want emphasis. He speaks of nets spread out on every side to circumvent him, unless God interposed for his help. Though at first sight the metaphors may seem more obscure than the prayer was in its simple unfigurative expression, they are far from darkening the previous declarations, and they add much to the strength of them. From the word גאים, geim, which signifies proud or lofty in the Hebrew, we learn that he does not speak of common men, but of men in power, who considered that they would have no difficulty in crushing an insignificant individual. When our enemies attack us in the insolence of pride, let us learn to resort to God, who can repel the rage of the wicked. Nor does he mean to say that they attacked him merely by bold and violent measures, for he complains of their spreading gins and snares; both methods are spoken of, namely, that while they were confident of the power which they possessed, they devised stratagems for his destruction.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Overthrow my goings.Literally, thrust aside my steps. The verse is a repetition, with variation, of Psa. 140:1.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Keep me A repetition of the prayer of Psa 140:1.
Goings The word may mean either feet, or the steps of his feet.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 140:4 Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.
Ver. 4. Keep me ] Who am thus sought and set for; but thou canst rescue me.
To overthrow my goings
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 140:4-5
4Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
Preserve me from violent men
Who have purposed to trip up my feet.
5The proud have hidden a trap for me, and cords;
They have spread a net by the wayside;
They have set snares for me. Selah.
Psa 140:4-5 Notice the string of hunting metaphors (cf. Psa 9:15; Psa 31:4; Psa 35:7; Psa 64:5; Psa 119:110; Psa 141:9-10; Psa 142:3).
1. trip up my feet, Psa 140:4 c
2. set a hidden trap, Psa 140:5 a
3. set hidden cords, Psa 140:5 a
4. spread a net by the road, Psa 140:5 b
5. set snares
Psa 140:5; Psa 140:8 Selah See full note at Psa 3:2.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
wicked = lawless. Hebrew. rasha’. App-41.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 140:4-5
Psa 140:4-5
STROPHE II
“Keep me, O Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked;
Preserve me from the violent man:
Who have purposed to thrust aside my steps.
The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords;
They have spread a net by the wayside;
They have set gins for me.
(Selah)”
Here again, as in the first strophe, we have the singular nouns coupled with plural verbs, indicating the collective meaning of the nouns. “The wicked” and “violent man” are singular, but the verbs “have purposed,” “have hid” and “have set” are plural. The rendition in the RSV is correct.
Other Davidic psalms reflecting the same thoughts and terminology that we find here are Psa 16:2; Psa 10:2; and Psa 25:19.
The devices of the wicked enemies trying to destroy David appear in this strophe under three metaphors: (1) the trap; (2) the cords; and (3) the net. “The trap was a snare as in KJV; the cords refer to a kind of noose hidden in the ground so as to catch the leg; and the net was used to catch birds or sea creatures.” The archaic word “gin” means a rather intricate trap.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 140:4. Wicked and violent should be understood the same as “evil” and “violent” in Psa 140:1, and purposed will take the same explanation as “imagine” in Psa 140:2.
Psa 140:5. Snare, cords, net, and gin, all signify the same thing. It means that David’s enemies were secretly plotting against him. The proud were those who were haughty and impudent; men who realized that David was far better than they, and that they could make no headway against him unless it would be by underhanded plots.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Keep me: Psa 17:8, Psa 17:9, Psa 36:11, Psa 37:32, Psa 37:33-40, Psa 55:1-3, Psa 71:4
preserve: Psa 140:1
overthrow: Psa 17:5, Pro 18:5
Reciprocal: Gen 27:41 – then 1Sa 26:2 – Saul arose 2Sa 22:3 – thou savest Psa 18:48 – violent man Psa 25:19 – cruel hatred Psa 132:16 – clothe
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 140:4-5. Keep me from the hands of the wicked Hebrew, , the wicked man. Let him not prevail to take away my life, my reputation, my interest, or my comfort, or to prevent my coming to the throne. Preserve me from the violent man Hebrew, , (as also in Psa 140:1,) from the man of violences, injuries, or rapines; who hath purposed Whose design and full resolution it is, if thou do not prevent it; to overthrow my goings My feet, or footsteps; that is, to throw me down to the ground, to defeat all my hopes and counsels, and bring me to ruin. The proud My insolent enemies, who despise me for my meanness, and exalt themselves against thee; have hid Have secretly laid; a snare for me That their designs, being undiscovered, might be the more likely to take effect, and I might fall into their hands ere I was aware. They have spread a net by the way In which I used to walk. No hunter or fowler can be more industrious and cunning in spreading nets, or setting gins and traps for the beasts or birds which he wishes to insnare and catch, than they are to trace me in all my motions, (1Sa 23:23,) and to invent all manner of wiles and subtle arts to surprise me.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
140:4 Keep {d} me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.
(d) He declares the remedy of the godly, when they are oppressed by the worldlings.