서론
无标题
简体中文
英文原文
This and the four following psalms are much of a piece, and the scope of them the same with many that we met with in the beginning and middle of the book of Psalms, though with but few of late. They were penned by David (as it should seem) when he was persecuted by Saul; one of them is said to be his "prayer when he was in the cave," and it is probable that all the rest were penned about the same time. In this psalm, I. David complains of the malice of his enemies, and prays to God to preserve him from them, Ps 140:1-5. II. He encourages himself in God as his God, Ps 140:6,7. III. He prays for, and prophesies, the destruction of his persecutors, Ps 140:8-11. IV. He assures all God's afflicted people that their troubles would in due time end well (Ps 140:12,13), with which assurance we must comfort ourselves, and one another, in singing this psalm.
1-7
Complaints and Petitions
简体中文
哀诉与恳求
交与伶长。大卫的诗。
¹ 耶和华啊，求你救我脱离恶人，保护我脱离强暴的人。
² 他们心中图谋奸恶，常常聚集要争战。
³ 他们使舌头尖利如蛇；嘴唇里有虺蛇的毒气。细拉。
⁴ 耶和华啊，求你保护我脱离恶人的手，保护我脱离强暴的人；他们图谋推我跌倒。
⁵ 骄傲人为我暗设网罗和绳索；他们在路旁铺上网，为我设下圈套。细拉。
⁶ 我曾对耶和华说，你是我的神；耶和华啊，求你留心听我恳求的声音。
⁷ 主耶和华，我救恩的力量啊，在争战的日子，你遮蔽了我的头。
大卫在这事上，正如在别的事上，是基督的预表——他在掌权之前受苦，在被高举之前降卑；并且正如有许多人爱他、看重他、想要尊崇他，照样也有许多人恨他、嫉妒他、想要害他——这些经文便显明这事。此处，
一、他描述他仇敌的特征，照他们本来的颜色描绘——他们是危险的人，他理应惧怕，但更是恶人，他无理由以为公义的神会加以容让。其中似乎有一位是他们的首领，他称之为恶人和强暴的人（诗 140:1,4），大概是指扫罗。迦勒底意译（诗 140:9）提名多益与亚希多弗；但此二人相隔时日甚远。强暴的人就是恶人。但除这一人之外，还有许多与大卫为敌结党的人，此处被描绘为蛇的真正后裔。因为，1. 他们极其狡猾，巧计行恶；他们图谋（诗 140:2），以一切可想见的技巧才智布下计谋。他们图谋要推倒善人的脚步（诗 140:4）——拉他陷入罪恶与患难，借败坏他的名声、压碎他的利益、夺去他的性命而毁灭他。为这目的，他们如善猎的人暗设网罗、铺上网、设下圈套（诗 140:5），使他们反对他的设计保持未被发现，便更可能奏效，使他在不知不觉中落入他们手中。大逼迫者常是大政客，这实在使他们更可怕；但主保护愚蒙人——不用这一切伎俩。2. 他们极其恶毒，满有恶意如撒但自己：他们使舌头尖利如蛇——蛇以舌头注入毒液；他们一切所说的话中如此充满恶毒，以致人以为他们嘴唇里除了虺蛇的毒气别无所有（诗 140:3）。他们借毁谤与计谋要毁灭大卫，却是暗中行——如人被蛇所咬，或被草中之蛇所伤。他们也尽力将自己的恶意灌输给别人，使他们比自己更七倍作地狱之子。恶毒的舌头使人如古蛇；嘴唇中的毒是心中有毒的确据。3. 他们结党；他们人数众多；他们都一同聚集攻击我要争战（诗 140:2）。那在别的事上不能同心的人，却能同心逼迫善人。希律和本丢彼拉多要在此事上联合；在此他们像撒但，他不自相纷争，一切鬼魔都同意属别西卜。4. 他们骄傲（诗 140:5），自视甚高，对自己成功满有把握；他们在这点上也像撒但，他首要的灭亡之罪就是骄傲。逼迫者的骄傲，目前虽是受逼迫者的惊恐，却也是他们的鼓励——因他们越狂傲，便越快为毁灭成熟。骄傲在败坏以先。
二、他求神保守他脱离他们、脱离被他们吞灭：「主啊，救我，保护我，保守我（诗 140:1,4）；不容他们夺去我的性命、名誉、利益、安慰，不容他们拦阻我登上王位。保守我不行他们所行的，不行他们所要我行的，不行他们指望我会行的。」请注意，仇敌向我们显出的恶意越多，我们就当越发恳切求神将我们置于他的保护之下。信徒在神里面可指望安全，并可享受其中并以圣洁的平静安享自己。神所保守的人是安全的。他若帮助我们，谁能敌挡我们呢？
三、他以神夸胜，如此事实上也以胜过逼迫者夸胜，诗 140:6,7。当他的仇敌磨利舌头攻击他时，他也磨利舌头攻击他们吗？不；虺蛇的毒气在他们嘴唇里，恩典却倾注在他嘴唇上——他此处向耶和华所说的话便是明证；当他因仇敌的恶意看见自己处于如此大危险之中时，他便仰望他，归向他；我们有一位神可投靠，这是好的。他得安慰，1. 借着自己与神的关系：「我说，你是我的神；既是我的神，便是我的盾牌和大能的保护者。」在动荡危险之时，认明自己与神的关系，并凭信心紧抓住他，是好的。2. 借着得以亲近神。这安慰他——他不但被接入与神所立的约，更被接入与神的相交，他有许可向他说话，并可指望从他得平安的答复，能以谦卑的把握说：耶和华啊，求你留心听我恳求的声音！ 3. 借着他对神帮助与其中之福的把握：「主耶和华」——耶和华 Adonai！ 作为耶和华，你自有永有、自足自丰，是无穷完全的存有；作为Adonai，你是我的支持与倚靠、我的主宰与治理者，所以是我拯救的力量——我大能的救主；不，不但是我的救主，更是我的拯救本身——我的拯救从他而来、在他里面；不但是大能的救主，更是我拯救的力量本身——我盼望的重担都放在他身上；他是一切的一切，使我得福，并保守我归于福气。4. 借着他素来经历神的看顾：在争战的日子，你遮蔽了我的头。 正如他与扫罗辩论时所说——他为事奉国家多次在田野的高处将性命置之度外；照样他也向神恳求——在这些事奉中，神奇妙地保护了他，为他提供了比歌利亚的头盔更好的头盔以护头：「主啊，你在与非利士人争战的日子保守了我，求你不要容我倒在心怀二意的以色列人的诡诈计谋之下。」神能保守他的百姓脱离暗中的欺诈，正如脱离公开的暴力；我们素来在一种危险中所经历的他大能与看顾，可鼓励我们在另一种性质的危险中信靠他、依赖他；因为没有缩短耶和华右手之事。
英文原文
Complaints and Petitions
To the chief musician. A psalm of David.
¹ Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;
² Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war.
³ They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.
⁴ Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.
⁵ The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.
⁶ I said unto the LORD, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD.
⁷ O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
In this, as in other things, David was a type of Christ, that he suffered before he reigned, was humbled before he was exalted, and that as there were many who loved and valued him, and sought to do him honour, so there were many who hated and envied him, and sought to do him mischief, as appears by these verses, where,
I. He gives a character of his enemies, and paints them out in their own colours, as dangerous men, whom he had reason to be afraid of, but wicked men, whom he had no reason to think the righteous God would countenance. There was one that seems to have been the ring-leader of them, whom he calls the evil man and the man of violences (Ps 140:1,4), probably he means Saul. The Chaldee paraphrast (Ps 140:9) names both Doeg and Ahithophel; but between them there was a great distance of time. Violent men are evil men. But there were many besides this one who were confederate against David, who are here represented as the genuine offspring and seed of the serpent. For, 1. They are very subtle, crafty to do mischief; they have imagined it (Ps 140:2), have laid the scheme with all the art and cunning imaginable. They have purposed and plotted to overthrow the goings of a good man (Ps 140:4), to draw him into sin and trouble, to ruin him by blasting his reputation, crushing his interest, and taking away his life. For this purpose they have, like mighty hunters, hidden a snare, and spread a net, and set gins (Ps 140:5), that their designs against him, being kept undiscovered, might be the more likely to take effect, and he might fall into their hands ere he was aware. Great persecutors have often been great politicians, which has indeed made them the more formidable; but the Lord preserves the simple without all those arts. 2. They are very spiteful, as full of malice as Satan himself: They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent, that infuses his venom with his tongue; and there is so much malignity in all they say that one would think there was nothing under their lips but adders' poison, Ps 140:3. With their calumnies, and with their counsels, they aimed to destroy David, but secretly, as a man is stung with a serpent, or a snake in the grass. And they endeavoured likewise to infuse their malice into others, and to make them seven times more the children of hell than themselves. A malignant tongue makes men like the old serpent; and poison in the lips is a certain sign of poison in the heart. 3. They are confederate; they are many of them; but they are all gathered together against me for war, Ps 140:2. Those who can agree in nothing else can agree to persecute a good man. Herod and Pilate will unite in this, and in this they resemble Satan, who is not divided against himself, all the devils agreeing in Beelzebub. 4. They are proud (Ps 140:5), conceited of themselves and confident of their success; and herein also they resemble Satan, whose reigning ruining sin was pride. The pride of persecutors, though at present it be the terror, yet may be the encouragement, of the persecuted, for the more haughty they are the faster are they ripening for ruin. Pride goes before destruction.
II. He prays to God to keep him from them and from being swallowed up by them: "Lord, deliver me, preserve me, keep me (Ps 140:1,4); let them not prevail to take away my life, my reputation, my interest, my comfort, and to prevent my coming to the throne. Keep me from doing as they do, or as they would have me do, or as they promise themselves I shall do." Note, The more malice appears in our enemies against us the more earnest we should be in prayer to God to take us under his protection. In him believers may count upon a security, and may enjoy it and themselves with a holy serenity. Those are safe whom God preserves. If he be for us, who can be against us?
III. He triumphs in God, and thereby, in effect, he triumphs over his persecutors, Ps 140:6,7. When his enemies sharpened their tongues against him, did he sharpen his against them? No; adders' poison was under their lips, but grace was poured into his lips, witness what he here said unto the Lord, for to him he looked, to him he directed himself, when he saw himself in so much danger, through the malice of his enemies: and it is well for us that we have a God to go to. He comforted himself, 1. In his interest in God: "I said, Thou art my God; and, if my God, then my shield and mighty protector." In troublous dangerous times it is good to claim relation to God, and by faith to keep hold of him. 2. In his access to God. This comforted him, that he was not only taken into covenant with God, but into communion with him, that he had leave to speak to him, and might expect an answer of peace from him, and could say, with a humble confidence, Hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord! 3. In the assurance he had of help from God and happiness in him: "O God the Lord—Jehovah Adonai! as Jehovah thou art self-existent and self-sufficient, an infinitely perfect being; as Adonai thou art my stay and support, my ruler and governor, and therefore the strength of my salvation, my strong Saviour; nay, not only my Saviour, but my salvation itself, from whom, in whom, my salvation is; not only a strong Saviour, but the very strength of my salvation, on whom the stress of my hope is laid; all in all, to make me happy, and to preserve me to my happiness." 4. In the experience he had had formerly of God's care of him: Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. As he pleaded with Saul, that, for the service of his country, he many a time jeoparded his life in the high places of the field, so he pleads with God that, in those services, he had wonderfully protected him, and provided him a better helmet for the securing of his head than Goliath's was: "Lord, thou hast kept me in the day of battle with the Philistines, suffer me not to fall by the treacherous intrigues of false-hearted Israelites." God is as able to preserve his people from secret fraud as from open force; and the experience we have had of his power and care, in dangers of one kind, may encourage us to trust in him and depend upon him in dangers of another nature; for nothing can shorten the Lord's right hand.
8-13
Shame and Confusion of Persecutors
简体中文
逼迫者的羞愧与混乱
⁸ 耶和华啊，求你不要容恶人的心愿得遂；不要助长他的恶谋，免得他们自高。细拉。
⁹ 至于那些围绕我的人，愿他们嘴唇的奸恶遮蔽自己的头。
¹⁰ 愿火炭落在他们身上；愿他们被丢在火中，抛在深坑里，不能再起来。
¹¹ 愿说恶言的在世上不得立定；愿祸患猎取强暴的人，将他推翻。
¹² 我知道耶和华必为困苦人伸冤，为穷乏人辨屈。
¹³ 义人必称谢你的名；正直人必住在你面前。
这里是大卫凭信心所预见的，
一、逼迫者的羞愧与混乱。
-
他们的失望。他为此祷告（诗140:8），求他们的私欲——野心、嫉妒、报复之欲——不得满足：「耶和华啊，求你不要容恶人所愿的成就」，倒要挫败它；「不要让他们看见我利益的毁坏——他们如此切望看见的；倒要『听我恳求的声音』。」他求他们的计谋不得成就、反被摧折：「求你不要助长他的恶谋」；不要叫护理眷顾他的任何设计，倒要加以拦阻；「不容他的恶谋得逞」，倒要锁住他的车轮，止住他追赶的势头。我们当这样为 神百姓的仇敌祷告，求他们在一切所图谋的事上不得成功。大卫为亚希多弗所献的祷告正是如此，求 神使他的计谋变为愚妄。所恳求的理由是，「免得他们自高」——免得他们因成功而自负，以为这是 神恩待他们的凭据。骄傲人亨通之时，便越发骄傲，对 神越发无礼，对他的百姓越发横蛮；「所以，主啊，不要使他们亨通。」
-
他们的毁灭。他为此祷告（按我们所读的如此）；但有人宁作预言读，原文也容许如此。我们若视之为祷告，那是出自预言之灵的祷告，二者结果都是一样。他预言：
（1）他自己仇敌的覆灭：「至于那些围绕我、寻索我灭亡的人」，〔1〕「他们嘴唇的奸恶必遮蔽他们的头」（诗140:9）；他们所愿加于我的恶，必归到他们自己身上；他们的咒诅必被吹回他们自己的脸上；他们为我所设的计谋，必转成他们自己的毁灭（诗7:15-16）。那些借毁谤、搬弄是非、曲解邻舍、散布恶毒之品格与传闻以制造祸患的人，当惧怕其后果，并思量当一切他们所参与加害于人的恶事都归回他们自己身上之时，他们的境况将是何等悲惨。〔2〕 神的审判必「落在他身上」——此处比作「火炭」，是借所多玛的毁灭为喻；不但如此，正如洪水之时，从天上来的水和从地下涌出的水汇合以淹没世界——天上的窗户敞开，大渊的泉源裂开——此处也是如此，为要彻底毁灭基督和他国度的仇敌，他们不仅要有「火炭」从上面落在他们身上（伯20:23，27:22），他们自己也要被丢在下边的「火」里；天与地狱、 神审判之怒与撒但刑役之怒，都要汇合使他们受苦。他们所要被丢入的火，不是可以逃脱的火窑，而是「深坑」，从其中不能再爬起来。陀斐特被称为「又深又宽」（赛30:33）。
（2）一切与他们同类之人的覆灭（诗140:11）。〔1〕说恶言的人必被倾覆，因为他们「在世上不得立定」。借欺诈和虚假、借毁谤和不义指控所得的，必不亨通，必不长久。借虚妄所得的财富必减少。让多益那样的人不要以为能长久作王，因为他的判决也必是他们的判决（诗2:5〔此处经文应作相关诗篇〕）。说谎的舌头不过片时，但「诚实的嘴唇必永远坚立」。〔2〕作恶的人必被毁灭：「愿祸患猎取强暴的人」——如同血犬追踪杀人犯将其查出，如同狮子追捕猎物将其撕碎。祸患之人必被显露，也必被毁灭；那命定的毁灭必追上他们，将他们推翻。「恶必追赶罪人。」
二、这里是他预见到受逼迫者必得解救和安慰（诗140:12-13）。1. 神在他们蒙解救的事上，必向那些受屈而将自己交托给他的人施行公义：「我知道耶和华必为他『困苦』百姓那受屈受冤的『案子』伸冤，必不容强权常胜过公理，纵然那不过是『穷乏人的公理』——他们所能宣称有权的事本不多。」 神是、也必作受压无辜之人的保护者，更是受逼迫之敬虔人的保护者；认识他的人不能不知道这事。2. 他们也必向 神行公道（若我可这样说），将他们蒙解救的荣耀归给他：「义人（就是留心将 神所当得的归给他、也将人所当得的归给人的人）必称谢你的名」——当他们看见自己的案子蒙 神热心地辨明、有力地推进之时。末了的话「正直人必住在你面前」，既表明 神对他们的恩惠（「你必接纳他们住在你的面前——今生在恩典中，来世在荣耀里；这必成为他们的安全与福乐」），也表明他们对 神当尽的本分：「他们必像伺候在主人面前的仆人那样伺候你——既为尊敬他，也为领受他的命令。」这才是真正的感恩，就是活的感恩；我们当这样使用我们所蒙的一切解救——更紧密、更甘心地事奉 神。
英文原文
Shame and Confusion of Persecutors
⁸ Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah.
⁹ As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
¹⁰ Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again.
¹¹ Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
¹² I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.
¹³ Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence.
Here is the believing foresight David had,
I. Of the shame and confusion of persecutors.
1. Their disappointment. This he prays for (Ps 140:8), that their lusts might not be gratified, their lust of ambition, envy, and revenge: "Grant not, O Lord! the desires of the wicked, but frustrate them; let them not see the ruin of my interest, which they so earnestly wish to see; but hear the voice of my supplications." He prays that their projects might not take effect, but be blasted: "O further not his wicked device; let not Providence favour any of his designs, but cross them; suffer not his wicked device to proceed, but chain his wheels, and stop him in the career of his pursuits." Thus we are to pray against the enemies of God's people, that they may not succeed in any of their enterprises. Such was David's prayer against Ahithophel, that God would turn his counsels into foolishness. The plea is, lest they exalt themselves, value themselves upon their success as if it were an evidence that God favoured them. Proud men, when they prosper, are made prouder, grow more impudent against God and insolent against his people, and therefore, "Lord, do not prosper them."
2. Their destruction. This he prays for (as we read it); but some choose to read it rather as a prophecy, and the original will bear it. If we take it as a prayer, that proceeds from a spirit of prophecy, which comes all to one. He foretels the ruin,
(1.) Of his own enemies: "As for those that compass me about, and seek my ruin," [1.] "The mischief of their own lips shall cover their heads (Ps 140:9); the evil they have wished to me shall come upon themselves, their curses shall be blown back into their own faces, and the very designs which they have laid against me shall turn to their own ruin," Ps 7:15,16. Let those that make mischief, by slandering, tale-bearing, misrepresenting their neighbours, and spreading ill-natured characters and stories, dread the consequence of it, and think how sad their condition will be when all the mischief they have been accessory to shall be made to return upon themselves. [2.] The judgments of God shall fall upon them, compared here to burning coals, in allusion to the destruction of Sodom; nay, as in the deluge the waters from above, and those from beneath, met for the drowning of the world, both the windows of heaven were opened and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, so here, to complete the ruin of the enemies of Christ and his kingdom, they shall not only have burning coals cast upon them from above (Job 20:23,27:22), but they themselves shall be cast into the fire beneath; both heaven and hell, the wrath of God the Judge and the rage of Satan the tormentor, shall concur to make them miserable. And the fire they shall be cast into is not a furnace of fire, out of which perhaps they might escape, but a deep pit, out of which they cannot rise. Tophet is said to be deep and large, Isa 30:33.
(2.) Of all others that are like them, Ps 140:11. [1.] Evil speakers must expect to be shaken, for they shall never be established in the earth. What is got by fraud and falsehood, by calumny and unjust accusation, will not prosper, will not last. Wealth gotten by vanity will be diminished. Let not such men as Doeg think to reign long, for his doom will be theirs, Ps 2:5. A lying tongue is but for a moment, but the lip of truth shall be established for ever. [2.] Evil doers must expect to be destroyed: Evil shall hunt the violent man, as the blood-hound hunts the murderer to discover him, as the lion hunts his prey to tear it to pieces. Mischievous men will be brought to light, and brought to ruin; the destruction appointed shall run them down and overthrow them. Evil pursues sinners.
II. Here is his foresight of the deliverance and comfort of the persecuted, Ps 140:12,13. 1. God will do those justice, in delivering them, who, being wronged, commit themselves to him: "I know that the Lord will maintain the just and injured cause of his afflicted people, and will not suffer might always to prevail against right, though it be but the right of the poor, who have but little that they can pretend a right to." God is, and will be, the patron of oppressed innocence, much more of persecuted piety; those that know him cannot but know this. 2. They will do him justice (if I may so speak), in ascribing the glory of their deliverance to him: "Surely the righteous (who make conscience of rendering to God his due, as well as to men theirs) shall give thanks unto thy name when they find their cause pleaded with jealousy and prosecuted with effect." The closing words, The upright shall dwell in thy presence, denote both God's favour to them ("Thou shalt admit them to dwell in thy presence in grace here, in glory hereafter, and it shall be their safety and happiness") and their duty to God: "They shall attend upon thee as servants that keep in the presence of their masters, both to do them honour and to receive their commands." This is true thanksgiving, even thanksliving; and this use we should make of all our deliverance, we should serve God the more closely and cheerfully.
本篇与其后四篇体裁相近,其宗旨与我们在《诗篇》卷首与卷中所遇的许多篇相同——虽然近来所遇者寥寥。它们大概是大卫被扫罗逼迫时所作;其中一篇明说是「他在洞中时的祈祷」,其余大概也是那时前后所作。在本诗中:一、大卫抱怨仇敌的恶意,求神保守他脱离他们(诗140:1-5);二、他以神为他的神而自勉(诗140:6,7);三、他求并预言逼迫他之人的灭亡(诗140:8-11);四、他向神一切受苦百姓保证,他们的患难在所定之时必得好结局(诗140:12,13);我们唱这首诗时,当以此保证自慰,并与彼此同勉。