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A Davidic Song

A Prayer for Maturity

141 Lord, I call to you,
    be quick to listen to me when I cry out!
Let my prayer be like incense offered before you,
    and my uplifted hands like the evening sacrifice.

Lord, set a guard over my mouth;
    keep watch over the door to my lips.
Don’t let my heart turn toward evil
    or involve itself in wicked activities
with men who practice iniquity.
    Let me not feast on their delicacies.

Let one who is righteous strike me;
    It is an act of gracious love.
Let him rebuke me,
    because it is oil for my head;
    do not let my head refuse it.
My prayers continuously will be
    against their wicked activities.
When their judges are thrown off the cliff,
    the people[a] will hear my words,
        for they are appropriate.

Just as one plows and breaks up the earth,
    our[b] bones are scattered
        near the entrance to the place of the dead.[c]
Nevertheless, my eyes are on you, Lord God,
    as I seek protection in you.
        Don’t leave me defenseless!
Protect me from the trap laid for me
    and from the snares of those who practice evil.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
    while I come through.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 141:6 Lit. they
  2. Psalm 141:7 So MT LXX; DSS 11QPsa reads my; Syr reads their
  3. Psalm 141:7 Lit. to Sheol; i.e. the realm of the dead