Psalms 141:10

Psa 141:10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.

Ver. 10. Let the wicked fall] Metaphora a piscibus, saith Tremellius, as fishes in casting nets, Isa 19:8.

Whilst that I withal escape] The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead, Pro 9:8. It appeareth at length that simple honesty is the best policy, and wicked policy the greatest simplicity, and most self-destructive.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. (Psa 141:10) Let the wicked .fall into their own traps, while I at the same time escape. Compare Psa 7:15. The combination of the singular and plural in the first clause—wicked (men) and his snares—shews that the singular denotes not a real but ideal person, representing a whole class. The best construction of the last clause is that given in the English Bible and retained above, with the single change of withal to the synonymous but less ambiguous expression, at the same time. The transpositions of this clause are unusual, even in Hebrew—at the same time I until (or while) I pass, i.e. pass by uninjured or escape.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So that none of them escape.

Into God’s nets, whereby he catcheth the wicked in their own malice.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 10. Let the wicked fall into their own nets] This is generally the case; those who lay snares for others fall into them themselves. Harm watch, harm catch, says the old adage. How many cases have occurred where the spring guns that have been set for thieves have shot some of the family! I have known some dismal cases of this kind, where some of the most amiable lives have been sacrificed to this accursed machine.

Whilst - I withal escape.] They alone are guilty; they alone spread the nets and gins; I am innocent, and God will cause me to escape.

ANALYSIS OF THE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIRST PSALM

The contents and sum of the Psalm are the following: -

I. His prayer, Ps 141:1-2.

II. That God would restrain his tongue, and compose his mind, that through anger or impatience he offend not, Ps 141:3-4.

III. He prays that if he must be reproved, it be by the just, not the unjust man, Ps 141:5; whose judgment he declares, Ps 141:5-6, and will not have any society with him.

IV. He shows the malice of the wicked to good men, Ps 141:6-7.

V. He puts his trust in God, and prays to be delivered from snares, Ps 141:8-10.

I. 1. "Lord, I cry unto thee," c. Speedily hear my prayer, which is fervently and affectionately addressed to thee.

2. "Let my prayer be set forth before thee," &c. Which was offered with the sacrifice. Why does David pray that his prayer might be accepted as the evening rather than the morning sacrifice? Perhaps the evening sacrifice might be more noble, as a figure of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, which was in the evening.

II. His second petition is, that God would restrain his tongue, that he might know when to speak and when to be silent. The metaphor is taken from the watch and gate of a city, which, to be safely kept, no one must be suffered to go in or out that ought not. The gate will not be sufficient without the watch for it will be always shut, or ever open.

His third petition is for his heart, because it is deceitful above all things. Man is weak without the grace of God.

1. "Incline not my heart," c. Suffer it not to be bent, or set on any evil thing.

2. "Incline not my heart to practices," &c. To do iniquity, being invited by their example.

3. "Let me not eat," &c. Partake with them in their feasts, doctrines, feigned sanctity, power, riches, or dignities.

III. His fourth petition is, that if reproved, it may be in the kindness of friendship, not revenge or bitterness.

1. "Let the righteous smite me," &c. Smite with a reproof.

2. "It shall be a kindness," &c. I shall account it an act of charity, and I will love him for it.

3. "And let him reprove me," &c. An excellent oil, to heal my wounds of sin.

IV. His next petition he prefaces thus: "Let my prayer," &c. "When their judges are overthrown," &c., refers to the judicature: the chief seats, authorities, &c., are swallowed up, as men are by the sea as the ship is dashed against the rock, and broken to pieces.

And this sense the following verse will justify: "Our bones are scattered," c. They beset me and my company so closely, that we despair of life and our bones must be scattered here and there in the wilderness, except thou, O Lord, succour us.

V. Therefore he presents his last petition, which has two parts. 1. "But mine eyes are unto thee," &c. 2. "Leave not my soul destitute."

1. For his own safety: "Leave not my soul," &c. Let me not fall into their hands.

2. Which prayer is grounded on his confidence in God: "Mine eyes are unto thee," &c. I depend on and look to thee alone for deliverance.

3. "Keep me from the snares," &c. From their frauds and ambushes.

Lastly, he imprecates confusion on the heads of his enemies.

1. "Let the wicked fall," &c.

2. "Whilst that I withal escape." Pass by or through them unhurt.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10) Comp. Psa_7:15.

Withal.—Probably, altogether (“whilst I altogether escape”), which some join with the previous clause, “Let the wicked fall into their own nets together, whilst I escape.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. into their own nets] Heb. into his own nets, i.e. each into his own net. “The enginer” is “hoist with his own petar.” For the thought that the plots of the wicked recoil upon themselves cp. Psa_140:11; Psa_7:15-16; Psa_9:16.

withal escape] Lit. pass on unharmed, at the same time as they are caught in their own snare.

Additional Note

The P.B.V. of Psa_141:5-7 gives a striking example of the use which Coverdale made of S. Münster’s version in revising his translation of 1535 for the ‘Great Bible’ of 1539 (see Introd. p. lxxiii), and also of the variations between the editions of the Great Bible.

Coverdale’s version of 1535 is: “Let the rightuous (rather) smite me frendly, and reprove me: so wil I take it, as though he had poured oyle upô my heade: it shal not hurte my heade, yee I wil praye yet for their wickednesse. Their iudges stôble at the stone, yet heare they my wordes, ye they be ioyfull. Oure bones lye scatered before ye pytt, like as when one graueth and dyggeth vp the grounde.”

In the Great Bible of 1539, reprinted in April 1540, the only change (with the exception of variations of spelling) is in Psa_141:6, which runs: “Let theyr judges stomble in stony places: that they may heare my wordes, for they are swete.”

But in the second Great Bible, also published in 1540, all the changes with which we are familiar in the P.B.V. have been introduced. The passage runs thus: “Let the ryghteous rather smyte me frendly and reproue me. But let not ther preciouse balmes: breake myne heed, yee, I wyll praye yet agaynste theyr wyckednesse. Lett theyr judges be overthrowen in stony places: that they may heare my wordes: for they are swete. Our bones lye scatered before the pit, lyke as whç one breaketh and heweth wood upô ye erth.”

The substantial changes are all taken from Münster’s version: “Percutiat me justus in pietate atque redarguat me, oleum autem praecipuum non frangat caput meum: quia adhuc oratio mea contra mala eorum. Praecipitentur in locis petrosis judices illorum, ut audiant sermones meos, quoniam suaves sunt. Sicut qui frangit et dissecat (ligna) in terra, dispersa sunt ossa nostra iuxta sepulchrum.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let the wicked fall into their own nets,.... Which they have laid for others, as they very often do; see Psa 7:15; or "into his net" (k), either Saul into his own net, and others with him, so Kimchi and Ben Melech; or the wicked into the net which God has laid for them; see Eze 12:13;

whilst that I withal escape; or "whilst I together escape", or "pass over" (l); that is, while he, together with his companions, passed over the net laid; or,

"till I pass over safe and sound,''

will all mine, as Noldius (m); not only pass over and escape the snares of the wicked, but pass out of this world into a state of happiness and glory in another.

(k) "in retiacula ejus", Pagninus, Montanus; "in retia ejus", Vatablus, Cocceius; so Ainsworth. (l) "simul transeam", Montanus, Vatablus, Musculus; "una cum meis transiturus sum", Piscator. (m) Concord. Partic. Ebr. Chald. p. 363. No. 1279. so Michaelis.

Next: Psalms Chapter 142

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Let the wicked fall into their own nets - See the notes at Psa 35:8. Compare Psa 7:15-16.

While that I withal escape - Margin, as in Hebrew, “pass over.” While I safely pass over the net or snare which has been secretly laid for me. The word “withal” means, in the Hebrew, “together, at the same time;” that is, At the same time that they fall into the net, let me pass over it in safety. See the notes at Job 5:13.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Into their own nets, Heb. into his nets; either into God’s nets, the relative being put without the antecedent, as is usual in such cases, where it is easily understood; or, each

into his own nets, to wit, the mischiefs which he designs against me.

Withal, or, together, to wit, with my followers; or, in like manner, as I have done formerly. But this word may seem to be more fitly joined to the foregoing clause, to which it is next placed in the Hebrew, and the verse may be and is by divers, both ancient and later translators, thus rendered, Let the wicked fall (or, the wicked shall fall) into their own nets together, (altogether, or alike, one as well as another, Saul himself not excepted, whom though I dare not destroy, God will judge,)

whilst that I escape; am preserved from that common calamity in which mine enemies shall perish; which was verified by the event. For David was strangely kept out of harm’s way when Saul and others of David’s enemies were cut off by the Philistines, 1Sa 31.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 10. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape. It may not be a Christian prayer, but it is a very just one, and it takes a great deal of grace to refrain from crying Amen to it; in fact, grace does not work towards making us wish otherwise concerning the enemies of holy men. Do we not all wish the innocent to be delivered, and the guilty to reap the result of their own malice? Of course we do, if we are just men. There can be no wrong in desiring that to happen in our own case which we wish for all good men. Yet is there a more excellent way.

Ver. 10. Into their own nets. The word rendered "nets" occurs only in this place, as the closely corresponding word in Ps 140:10, which is rendered "deep pits", occurs there only. Speaker's Commentary.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Let the wicked fall, etc.—The verb is in the declarative future—the wicked shall fall into their own nets.

Whilst that I withal escape—The Hebrew pointing seems at fault here. Yahad, “together,” (English version “withal,”) belongs to the previous hemistich, and the whole should read:—

The wicked together shall fall into their own nets;

Meanwhile I shall pass over [safely.]

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let the wicked fall into their own nets. (comp. Psa_7:15 Psa_35:8 Psa_57:6 Pro_5:22) The moral sense is always satisfied when the wicked man falls into his own trap, or is "hoist with his own petard." Even a heathen poet could say"Nec lex justior ulla est, Quam necis artifices arte perire sun. Whilst that I withal escape; literally, until that I pass over; i.e. whilst I pass over the nets, or traps, in safety.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

May the wicked fall...into his nets May the wicked man himself fall into his nets that he spreads at my feet.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.