Psalms 141:9
in Psalms 141Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, and from the lures of evildoers.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, And from the gins of the workers of iniquity.
KJV
Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.
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This verse in Psalms 141
Commentary
10 notes on this verseKeep me from the snare which they have set for me. Always either heretics or demons stretch snares for us. For faults are near to virtues. They have set a snare for me in almsgiving, if I stretch out my hand so that men may see, and, as though doing a good deed, I come into a fault and into sin. But if I give a tunic to a brother so that another may see, they have set a snare for me. Always nets are stretched for stags and snares are set, where the hunter has caught their tracks.
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
Keep me from the snares
Verse 3 asked God to guard the lips, and Charles Spurgeon saw the prayer grow here to the whole man. He found David more troubled by hidden plots than open battle. Augustine told the two dangers apart, the trap set by persecutors and the stumbling of those who fell away.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Keep me from the trap which they have laid for me" [Psalm 141:9]. What was the trap? "If you consent, I spare you." In the trap was set the bait of the present life; if the bird love this bait, it falls into the trap: but if the bird be able to say, "The day of man have I not desired: You know:" [Jeremiah 17:16] "He shall pluck his feet out of the net," etc. Two things he has mentioned to be distinguished the one from the other: the trap he said was set by persecutors; the stumbling-blocks came from those who have consented and apostatised: and from both he desires to be guarded. On the one side they threaten and rage, on the other consent and fall: I fear lest the one be such, that I fear him; the other such, that I imitate him. "This I do to you, if you consent not." "Keep me from the trap," etc. "Behold, your brother has already consented." "And from the stumbling-blocks," etc.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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
): " Keep me from being taken in the snare they have laid for me; give me to discover it and to evade it." Be the gin placed with ever so much subtlety, God can and will secure his people from being taken in it. That God would, in justice, turn the designs of his enemies upon themselves, and, in mercy, deliver him from being ruined by them (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Keep me from, the snares which they have laid for me. He had before asked, in Ps 141:3, that the door of his mouth might be kept; but his prayer now grows into "Keep me." He seems more in trouble about covert temptation than concerning open attacks. Brave men do not dread battle, but they hate secret plots. We cannot endure to be entrapped like unsuspecting animals; therefore we cry to the God of wisdom for protection. And the gins of the workers of iniquity. These evil workers sought to catch David in his speech or acts.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Keep me from, the snares which they have laid for me. He had before asked, in Ps 141:3, that the door of his mouth might be kept; but his prayer now grows into "Keep me." He seems more in trouble about covert temptation than concerning open attacks. Brave men do not dread battle, but they hate secret plots. We cannot endure to be entrapped like unsuspecting animals; therefore we cry to the God of wisdom for protection. And the gins of the workers of iniquity. These evil workers sought to catch David in his speech or acts. This was in itself a piece of in equity, and so of a piece with the rest of their conduct. They were bad themselves, and they wished either to make him like themselves, or to cause him to seem so. If they could not catch the good man in one way, they would try another; snares and gins should be multiplied, for anyhow they were determined to work his ruin. Nobody could preserve David but the Omniscient and Omnipotent One: he also will preserve us. It is hard to keep out of snares which you cannot see, and to escape gins which you cannot discover. Well might the much hunted Psalmist cry, "Keep me."
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Keep me from the snares ... - See the notes at Psa 11:6. Compare Psa 38:12; Psa 69:22; Psa 91:3. The secret plans which they have laid against me. And the gins of the workers of iniquity - Wicked men; men who seek my destruction. On the word gins, see the notes at Isa 8:14. The gin is a trap or snare to catch birds or wild animals. The word used here is the same which occurs in Psa 18:5, and which is there rendered “snare.” See the notes at that passage. Compare also Psa 64:5; Psa 69:22; Psa 106:36; Psa 140:5, where the same word occurs.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שָׁמְרֵ֗נִי | shamereni | keep me | H8104 → | 468 times |
| מִ֣ידֵי | midei | from [the] hands of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| פַ֭ח | fach | [the] trap | H6341 → | 27 times |
| יָ֣קְשׁוּ | yakeshu | [which] they have laid | H3369 → | |
| לִ֑י | li | for me | ||
| וּ֝מֹקְשׁ֗וֹת | umokeshot | and [the] snares of | H4170 → | 27 times |
| פֹּ֣עֲלֵי | poalei | [those who] do | H6466 → | 57 times |
| אָֽוֶן׃ | ʾaven | <of> wickedness | H205 → | 77 times |
שָׁמְרֵ֗נִיkeep me
shamereniH8104 →468 times
מִ֣ידֵיfrom [the] hands of
mideiH3027 →1618 times
פַ֭ח[the] trap
fachH6341 →27 times
יָ֣קְשׁוּ[which] they have laid
yakeshuH3369 →
לִ֑יfor me
li
וּ֝מֹקְשׁ֗וֹתand [the] snares of
umokeshotH4170 →27 times
פֹּ֣עֲלֵי[those who] do
poaleiH6466 →57 times
אָֽוֶן׃<of> wickedness
ʾavenH205 →77 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
Psalms 119:110The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from Your precepts.
it leads to
- Psalms 140:5
The proud hide a snare for me; the cords of their net are spread along the path, and lures are set out for me. Selah
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 119:95
The wicked wait to destroy me, but I will ponder Your testimonies.
- Psalms 140:5
Through
Psalms 140:5The proud hide a snare for me; the cords of their net are spread along the path, and lures are set out for me. Selah
it leads to
- Psalms 35:7
For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.
- Psalms 142:3
Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me.
- Jeremiah 18:22
Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.
- Psalms 35:7
Through
Luke 20:20So they watched Him closely and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They were hoping to catch Him in His words in order to hand Him over to the rule and authority of…
it leads to
- Luke 11:54
waiting to catch Him in something He might say.
- Luke 11:54
Through
Proverbs 13:14The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning one from the snares of death.
it leads to
- Proverbs 14:27
The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.
- Proverbs 10:11
The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
- Proverbs 14:27
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms
This page draws on 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.