I. (140:1–5) Deliver Me from the Plots of the Wicked! The basic request is clear from the verbs “deliver” (v. 1), “preserve” (vv. 1, 4), and “guard” (v. 4). The threat is from “evil men,” further defined as “violent men” and “the arrogant,” who “plan evil things” and “stir up wars” (perhaps referring to the civil strife that results from their schemes).776 These are not ordinary enemies; they are powerful people (most normally fellow Israelites) who prefer wickedness to godliness and therefore pose a serious danger to the faithful.

In Romans 3:13 Paul uses the clause “Under their lips is the venom of asps” (Ps. 140:3) as part of his argument that Jews and Greeks are alike “under sin”; specifically, he cites several texts to show that his fellow Jews are not exempt from the reign of sin.777

II. (140:6–8) O Lord, My Strength, Hear Me! The right response to such danger is to reaffirm trust in God and to ask him for help.

The reaffirmation begins by saying to the Lord, “You are my God.” The Lord is the covenant God of Israel, but with these words the faithful worshiper professes that he or she has personally laid hold of God’s love. This is followed by a recollection of previous experiences of deliverance, stated very generally so that the person who is singing can fill it out in whatever way suits his or her own setting (v. 7). (On “salvation” cf. comment on 3:1–2.)

This recollection becomes prayer, which moves from the request for protection of the first section to the request that God not allow “the wicked” to have their “desires” and that their “evil plot” fail.

III. (140:9–11) Let Their Schemes Recoil on Them! The next stage of the prayer is to request that the evil schemes would not only fail but also recoil on the heads of those who plot them (cf. comment on 94:16–23 [at v. 23]). On the nature of these “curses” cf. Introduction; comments on 5:9–10; 35:4–8; 109:6–20. The success of such people would defile “the land,” the place where God’s people should be allowed to live peacefully and faithfully, free from oppression.

The request in 140:10 (“Let burning coals fall upon them”) may bring to mind the expectation of burning coals on the head as emblematic of repentance (the most likely sense of Prov. 25:21–22, cited in Rom. 12:20). However, in this context it seems to refer to public judgment and exposure to shame—that is, these schemers should not be “established in the land,” holding a place of authority and influence. Perhaps the connection between the two passages is the notion of shame: the shame that leads to repentance on the one hand and the shame that is the public exposure of one’s evil intentions on the other.

IV. (140:12–13) I Am Confident That the Lord Will Protect Me. The psalm closes, as many laments do, by expressing confidence in the Lord: he will “maintain the cause of the afflicted” and “execute justice for the needy”—he will watch over his faithful ones to protect them from the schemes of the evildoers featured in the psalm (the theme of Ps. 140:9–11). The song also guides the faithful in what they should hold as their highest good: to “give thanks to [God’s] name” and to “dwell in [his] presence”—ready access to worship with the rest of the faithful.