Psalms 141:10
in Psalms 141Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Let the wicked fall into their own nets, Whilst that I withal escape.
KJV
Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.
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This verse in Psalms 141
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThe sinners shall fall into his net. Above he said, Keep me from the snare which they have set for me, concerning many; but now concerning one, The sinners shall fall into his net. Just as the Lord casts a net, and catches a multitude of fish, and has the apostles as fishermen gathering and bringing to him, that is, those who believe through them: so also the devil has demons, who are subject to him, who both deceive men and bring them to him.
This site's exposition
But my eyes are fixed on You
on Psalms 141:8-10
But my eyes are fixed on You turns the prayer from the traps to the one who can keep a man out of them. Spurgeon read those eyes as seeing nothing to fear. The request asks that the nets the wicked laid take the wicked, while the psalmist walks past.
This site's exposition
while I pass by in safety
Albert Barnes noted that the Hebrew joins the two events in one moment: the net closes on the wicked as the psalmist passes over it. Charles Spurgeon called the request a just one. Matthew Henry saw the trapping of the wicked prove at times the escape of the righteous.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Sinners shall fall into his nets" (ver. 10). Not all sinners, certain sinners, who are so great sinners, as to love this life to such a degree as to prefer it to everlasting life, "shall fall into his trap." But what sayest thou? Shall they that are such, thinkest thou, fall into his nets? what of Thy disciples, O Christ? Behold, when persecution was raging, when they all "left Thee alone, and went every one to his own:" lo! they who were closest to Thee, in Thy trial and persecution, when Thine enemies demanded Thee to be crucified, abandoned Thee. And that bold one, who had promised Thee that he would go with Thee even unto death, heard from the Physician what was being done in him, the sick man. For being in a fever, he had said he was whole; but the Lord touched the vein of his heart. Then came the trial; then came the test; then came the accusation; and now, questioned not by some great power, but by a humble slave, and that a woman, questioned by a handmaid, he yielded; he denied thrice. ..."He wept bitterly," it saith. Not yet was he fitted to suffer. To him was said, "Thou shall follow Me afterwards." Hereafter he was to be firm, having been strengthened by the Lord's Resurrection. Not yet then was it time that those "bones" should be "scattered beside the pit." For see how many failed, even to those who first hung on His mouth; even they failed. Wherefore? "I am alone, until I pass over:" for this followeth in the Psalm. ...
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
All that are bound over to God's justice are held in the cords of their own iniquity. But let me at the same time obtain a discharge. The entangling and ensnaring of the wicked sometimes prove the escape and enlargement of the righteous.
4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties. Mercy to accept what we do well, and grace to keep us from doing ill, are the two things which we are here taught by David's example to pray to God for. David loved prayer, and he begs of God that his prayers might be heard and answered,
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:25w-of-74
Let the wicked fall into their own nets,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
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.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
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.
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.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
May the wicked fall..into his nets May the wicked man himself fall into his nets that he spreads at my feet.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יִפְּל֣וּ | yipelu | let them fall | H5307 → | 435 times |
| בְמַכְמֹרָ֣יו | vemakhmorav | in own nets his | H4364 → | |
| רְשָׁעִ֑ים | reshaim | wicked [people] | H7563 → | 263 times |
| יַ֥חַד | yachad | together | H3162 → | 141 times |
| אָ֝נֹכִ֗י | ʾanokhi | I | H595 → | 359 times |
| עַֽד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| אֶעֱבֽוֹר׃ | ʾeevor | I will pass by | H5674 → | 556 times |
יִפְּל֣וּlet them fall
yipeluH5307 →435 times
בְמַכְמֹרָ֣יוin own nets his
vemakhmoravH4364 →
רְשָׁעִ֑יםwicked [people]
reshaimH7563 →263 times
יַ֥חַדtogether
yachadH3162 →141 times
אָ֝נֹכִ֗יI
ʾanokhiH595 →359 times
עַֽד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
אֶעֱבֽוֹר׃I will pass by
ʾeevorH5674 →556 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 11:8The righteous man is delivered from trouble; in his place the wicked man goes in.
it leads to
- Daniel 6:23–24
The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den, and when Daniel was lifted out of the den, no wounds whatsoever were found on him, because he had trusted…
- Proverbs 21:18
The wicked become a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright.
- Esther 7:9–10
Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.”…
- Isaiah 43:3–4
For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.
- Daniel 6:23–24
Through
Esther 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.
it leads to
- Psalms 7:16
His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 7:16
Through
Psalms 35:8May ruin befall them by surprise; may the net they hid ensnare them; may they fall into the hazard they created.
it leads to
- Psalms 141:9–10
Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, and from the lures of evildoers.
- Luke 21:34
But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.
- Psalms 141:9–10
Through
Psalms 140:9May the heads of those who surround me be covered in the trouble their lips have caused.
it leads to
- Proverbs 18:7
A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.
- Proverbs 18:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 141; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 7; Jerome, Homily 51, on Psalm 140; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.