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Psalm 141:1-10

An evening prayer

141:1Maybe David wrote this psalm when Absalom was trying to kill him. See 2 Samuel 15:13.

1 Lord, I am calling to you for help.

Come to me quickly!

Please listen to what I am saying.

2 I offer my prayer to you like incense.

Please accept it when I raise my hands to you.

Accept it like a gift that I offer to you in the evening.

3 Lord, keep my mouth safe,

so that I do not speak bad things.

4 Do not let my mind want evil things.

Do not let me join with wicked people,

to do the same bad things that they do.

I do not even want to eat their good food.

5 If a good man hits me because he loves me,

he is being kind to me.

If he shows me that I have done a wrong thing,

that it is like special oil on my head.

141:5David is saying, ‘If a good man is angry with me, I will listen to what he says.’ He is warning me because he loves me, not because he hates me like an enemy. Special oil (olive oil) that is poured on someone's head shows that he is an important person.

I would not refuse it.

I continue to pray against what wicked people do.

6 They will throw their rulers down

from high rocks.

Then they will agree that my words were true.

7 It will be like a farmer who ploughs his field,

and breaks the earth into pieces.

Just like that, they will break the bones of wicked people.

They will throw their bones on the ground

at the entrance to Sheol.

8 But I look to you for help, Almighty Lord.

I need you to keep me safe.

Do not let wicked people kill me.

9 They have prepared traps to catch me.

Do not let me fall into the traps of those evil people.

10 May those bad people fall into their own traps!

Then I will be free from their power.