Psalm 140-141 Chiastic Structure

Read Psalm 140-141 at Bible Gateway.

1a) Psa 140:1-13, Deliver me from the snares of evil men;

1b) Psa 141:1, Lord, I cry out to You; make haste to me! Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You;

1c) Psa 141:2-4, Prayer / over my mouth / do not delight in anything evil;

1) Psa 141:2, Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice;

2) Psa 141:3, Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips;

3) Psa 141:4, Do not incline my heart to delight in the evil (false) words of the wicked;

1a) Psa 141:4a, Do not incline my heart to any evil thing (word); {n}
1b) Psa 141:4b, To practice wicked works; {n}
2b) Psa 141:4c, With men who work iniquity; {n}
2a) Psa 141:4d, And do not let me feast of their delights;

central axis) Psa 141:5, Let the righteous correct me + let me not refuse it;

5a, Let the righteous strike me — it shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me — {n}
5b, It shall be as excellent oil; Let my head not refuse it. {n}

2c) Psa 141:5c-6, Prayer / over my words / the authentic delight of truth;

1) Psa 141:5c, For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked;

2) Psa 141:6a, When their judges are overthrown by the sides of the cliff, they will hear my words;

3) Psa 141:6c, For they are the authentic delight;

7 As when one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of the grave.

2b) Psa 141:8, But my eyes are upon You, O GOD the Lord; in You I take refuge; do not leave my soul destitute;

2a) Psa 141:9-10, Keep me from the snares evil men have laid for me;

9, Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, and from the traps of the workers of iniquity;
10, Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I escape safely. {p}

Okay, there are several translation puzzles with this psalm, which throws its meaning into relief.

C pair: in the 2nd element, the same word is used in Hebrew in both places, the Hebrew for “mouth,” translated “over my mouth” in vs. 3, and “my words” in vs. 6. In the 3rd element, the reverse parallelism which the many paragraph divisions bring into focus in vs. 4 reveals that in order for someone to practice wicked works, their heart has to first incline toward that wickedness so as to delight in it. The psalmist was praying a prayer of protection against falling into the trap of wicked works, by first praying a prayer of protection for his heart to not incline and then delight in wickedness. The interesting thing about Psa 141:4a, “Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,” is that the word is in Hebrew, dabar, Strong’s H1697, normally translated “word,” and which we saw saw translated “word” over and over again when we were studying Psa 119.

This reveals that evil words are a sort of a key to unlock the heart to incline toward and delight in evil deeds. And where do evil words ultimately come from? They are whispered in the ear by the evil one, by spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places, so that they first appear in the register of our minds as a thought or statement. It is important to pay attention to the thoughts that cross the register of our minds, for not all of them originate in our own hearts! Some of them are planted there, cleverly, craftily, laid as snares to trip us up, if we accept that thought uncritically without comparing it to the plumb line of the truth of God’s word. When we recognize an evil word going across the register of our minds, we can take that thought captive and make it obey Christ, by saying, “Whoa! I reject that thought as evil and a falsehood; I do not accept it as truth or agree with it or receive it, and it must exit my mind now in the mighty name of Jesus!”

In the 2C pair, the psalmist has overcome the temptation of evil words, and is speaking true words which are in agreement with the truth of God’s word, which truth is the authentic delight (translated “sweetness” in NKJV) as opposed to the evil and false things the wicked delight in.

The Hebrew of verse 7 is so difficult that many Hebrew commentators leave it untranslated, not being at all sure of its meaning; and of those Hebrew scholars who attempt a translation, all have a caveat that the translation is by no means certain; so I have left vs. 7 out of the structure.