SCRIPTURA

John Calvin · Commentary on the Psalms, Volume 5 · 151 of 159

Psalm 141

Translated by James Anderson

A Psalm of David

1 O Jehovah! I have cried to thee: Haste thou to me: Listen to my voice when I cry to thee.

2 Directed let my prayer be as incense before thy face: [Let] the lifting up of my hands [be] as the sacrifice of the evening.

3 Set, O Jehovah! a watch to my mouth; Keep a guard upon the door of my lips.

4 Incline not my heart to an evil thing, To commit works of ungodliness with the men who work iniquity; And let me not eat of their dainties.

5 Smite me let the righteous man, [it shall be] a kindness; And let him chastise me, [it shall be] an oil that is precious, It shall not break my head: For yet also my prayer shall be in their calamities.

6 Cast down on stony places have been their judges: And they shall hear my words, for they are sweet.

7 As he who breaketh and cutteth on the earth, Scattered have been our bones at the mouth of the grave.

8 Because to thee, O Jehovah! my Lord! are my eyes, In thee I have hoped: do not leave destitute my soul.

9 Keep me from the hands of the snare which they have spread for me. From the nets of those who work iniquity.

10 Fall into his nets let the ungodly ones together, Until I escape.

Psalm 142

Maschil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer

1 With my voice to, Jehovah I cried; With my voice to. Jehovah I made supplication.

2 I poured out before his face my meditation; My affliction before his face I declare.

3 When perplexed within me was my spirit, And thou knewest my path: In the way wherein I walked, they laid a snare for me.

4 On looking to the right hand, and beholding, None there was who would know me, Perish did refuge from me, [There was] no man seeking after my soul.

5 I cried to thee, O Jehovah! I said, Thou art my hope, My portion in the land of the living.

6 Attend to my cry, For under affliction I labor exceedingly: Deliver me from my persecutors, For they are too strong for me.

7 Rescue from prison my soul, That I may celebrate thy name: Crown me shall the righteous ones, For thou shalt recompense me.