Today’s Passage: Psalm 140
This psalm closes a stretch of this series built around trust and refuge, and it does so by naming danger with unusual precision.
As you read, hold this: the psalm’s danger is entirely verbal and hidden, tongues, venom, snares, nets, before it ever turns to a single, settled confession of trust.
Psalm 140:1-3 (BSB)
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
¹ Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men. Protect me from men of violence, ² who devise evil in their hearts and stir up war all day long. ³ They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah
Word study Venom of vipers (Psalm 140:3)
“Venom” translates חֲמַת (chemah, khe-MAHT) — Strong's H2534, and “viper” translates עַכְשׁוּב (akshub, ahk-SHOOV) — Strong's H5919. The same verb this psalm uses for sharpening tongues, shanan, already appeared earlier in this series describing enemies aiming words like arrows. Here the image escalates further: not just a sharpened blade, but a venomous bite, words meant to poison, not merely wound.
Psalm 140:4-5 (BSB)
⁴ Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked. Keep me safe from men of violence who scheme to make me stumble. ⁵ The proud hide a snare for me; the cords of their net are spread along the path, and lures are set out for me. Selah
Psalm 140:6-8 (BSB)
⁶ I say to the LORD, “You are my God.” Hear, O LORD, my cry for help. ⁷ O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, You shield my head in the day of battle. ⁸ Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; do not promote their evil plans, lest they be exalted. Selah
Study notes The same verse quoted alongside Psalm 5
This series already met verse 3’s language once before, when Psalm 5 was covered earlier. Both psalms describe a poisoned, deceitful tongue, and both are quoted, side by side, in the exact same New Testament passage.
"Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The venom of vipers is on their lips." Romans 3:13 (BSB)
Paul’s catalog of universal sinfulness in Romans 3 draws on more than one psalm to make its case. This psalm and Psalm 5 are not describing two unrelated dangers. They are two witnesses to the same underlying human condition, apart from grace.
Psalm 140:9-11 (BSB)
⁹ May the heads of those who surround me be covered in the trouble their lips have caused. ¹⁰ May burning coals fall on them; may they be thrown into the fire, into the miry pits, never to rise again. ¹¹ May no slanderer be established in the land; may calamity hunt down the man of violence.
Context Closing ten days on trust and refuge
This psalm closes a run of ten psalms this series has walked through built around trust, refuge, and honest crying out for help, opening with Psalm 5’s morning prayer and closing here, with confidence still intact in the face of poisoned words and hidden snares. Across every one of these ten days, the pattern has held: real danger named honestly, and real trust that never quite lets go.
Psalm 140:12-13 (BSB)
¹² I know that the LORD upholds justice for the poor and defends the cause of the needy. ¹³ Surely the righteous will praise Your name; the upright will dwell in Your presence.
The psalm’s closing confidence rests on something specific: not merely that David personally will be rescued, but that the LORD’s justice for the poor and needy is a settled, known fact, true regardless of how this particular danger resolves.
Personal Application
- This psalm names its danger with real precision, sharpened tongues, hidden snares, poisoned words, before ever turning to trust. Is there a specific danger in your own life you have been describing vaguely rather than naming clearly?
- Verse 6’s confession, “You are my God,” comes in the middle of the psalm, not after the danger is resolved. Could you make that same confession honestly right now, in the middle of whatever you are currently facing?
Decision of the day: Name one specific danger or hidden difficulty clearly and honestly in prayer today, then follow it immediately with verse 6’s confession, “You are my God,” regardless of whether the situation has changed yet.
Pray to Close
The truth to carry from this psalm, and from these ten days spent on trust and refuge: naming real danger honestly and trusting God completely have never been opposites. This whole stretch of psalms has held both together, and so can you.
Praise: for the LORD, the strength of salvation, who shields the head in the day of battle.
Confess: any vague or softened description of a real danger you have been avoiding naming clearly.
Ask: for the same settled confession this psalm makes, “You are my God,” true in the middle of danger, not only after it has passed.
Worship for Today
God Is Able · Hillsong Worship
This song’s confidence, that God is able regardless of what is currently being faced, matches this psalm’s own settled trust, confessed in the middle of real danger rather than only after the danger has already passed.
Listen: