Psalm 141 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Give Ear to My Voice

Psa 141:1A Psalm of David.
O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to you!

Psa 141:2Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!

Psa 141:3Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips!

Psa 141:4Do not let my heart incline to any evil,
to busy myself with wicked deeds
in company with men who work iniquity,
and let me not eat of their delicacies!

Psa 141:5

Psa 141:5Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;
let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;
let my head not refuse it.
Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.

Psa 141:6

Psa 141:6When their judges are thrown over the cliff,[fn]
then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.

Psa 141:7

Psa 141:7As when one plows and breaks up the earth,
so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.[fn]

Psa 141:8

Psa 141:8But my eyes are toward you, O GOD, my Lord;
in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless![fn]

Psa 141:9

Psa 141:9Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me
and from the snares of evildoers!

Psa 141:10

Psa 141:10Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by safely.

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(141:6)

Or When their judges fall into the hands of the Rock

(141:7)

The meaning of the Hebrew in verses 6, 7 is uncertain

(141:8)

Hebrew refuge; do not pour out my life!

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.