Bible Commentaries
Psalms 141

Verse 1

141:1 [A Psalm of David.] LORD, I {a} cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.

(a) He shows that there is no other refuge in our necessity but only to flee to God for comfort of soul.

Verse 2

141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee [as] incense; [and] the {b} lifting up of my hands [as] the evening sacrifice.

(b) He means his earnest zeal and gesture, which he used in prayer: alluding to the sacrifices which were by God’s commandment offered in the old law.

Verse 3

141:3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; {c} keep the door of my lips.

(c) He desires God to keep his thoughts and ways either from thinking or executing vengeance.

Verse 4

141:4 Incline not my heart to [any] evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their {d} dainties.

(d) Let not their prosperity lure me to be wicked as they are.

Verse 5

141:5 Let the righteous smite me; [it shall be] a kindness: and let {e} him reprove me; [it shall be] an excellent oil, [which] shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also [shall be] in their calamities.

(e) He could abide all corrections that came from a loving heart.

Verse 6

141:6 When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall {g} hear my words; for they are sweet.

(g) The people who follow their wicked rulers in persecuting the prophet will repent and turn to God, when they see their wicked rulers punished.

Verse 7

141:7 Our bones are scattered at the {h} grave’s mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth [wood] upon the earth.

(h) Here it appears that David was miraculously delivered out of many deaths as in 2 Corinthians 1:9-10.

Verse 10

141:10 Let the wicked fall into {i} their own nets, {k} whilst that I withal escape.

(i) Into God’s nets, by which he catches the wicked in their own malice.

(k) So that none of them escape.