Lord, do not let evil people have their way. Do not let their evil schemes succeed, or they will become proud. Interlude
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh, don’t grant the desires of the wicked. Don’t let their evil plans succeed, or they will become proud. Selah.
- KJV Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah.
- BSB Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; do not promote their evil plans, lest they be exalted. Selah
- NKJV Do not grant, O Lord, the desires of the wicked; Do not further his wicked scheme, Lest they be exalted. Selah
- NASB “Do not grant, Lord, the desires of the wicked; Do not bring about his evil planning, so that they are not exalted. Selah
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David asks God not to grant the desires of the wicked or let their plans succeed. It prays that evil schemes would be frustrated rather than rewarded.
Overview
David appeals to God's justice, asking that the wicked not be allowed to triumph and grow proud through success. He entrusts the outcome to God rather than seizing vengeance himself. This confidence that God will not let evil ultimately prevail rests securely on His righteous rule, vindicated at the cross and the last day.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 10:2–3In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.
- Ps 27:12Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty.
- Deut 32:27were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted, Yahweh has not done all this.’”
- 2 Sam 15:31Someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” David said, “Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”
- Job 5:12–13He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can’t perform their enterprise.
- Ps 94:20–21Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute?
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 140:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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