1 I have cried to thee, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to thee.
Jerome · AD 420 Snatch me away, O Lord, from the evil man. The devil cannot deceive us so much by himself as he can through the instrument of a man; and it is from this that the prophet prays to be delivered.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Deliver me, O Lord, from the wicked man" [Psalm 140:1]. Not from one only, but from the class; not from the vessels only, but from their prince himself, that is, the devil. Why "from man," if he meaneth from the devil? Because he too is called a man in a figure.
2 Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice.
Jerome · AD 420 Who have devised iniquities in their heart. He is speaking about the heretics.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Who have imagined unrighteousnesses in their heart" [Psalm 140:2]....From them free me, from them let Your hand be most powerful to deliver me.
3 Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: and a door round about my lips.
Romans · AD 56 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Jerome · AD 420 The venom of asps is under their lips. For they seem to have words of friendship, yet they are full of death-dealing poison.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "They have sharpened their tongues like serpents" [Psalm 140:3]. If still thou seekest to make out the man, behold a comparison. In the serpent above all beasts is there cunning and craft to hurt; for therefore does it creep. It hath not even feet, so that its footsteps when it cometh may be heard.
4 Incline not my heart to evil words; to make excuses in sins. With men that work iniquity: and I will not communicate with the choicest of them.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Preserve me, O Lord, from the hand of the sinner, from unrighteous men deliver me" [Psalm 140:4]. Here they wear their real colours, they are known; here we have no need to understand, but to act: we have need to pray, not to ask who they are. But how you should pray against such men, he explains in what follows. For many pray unskilfully against wicked men.
Symeon the New Theologian · AD 1022 Does He distinguish and separate anyone out, calling one to Himself as foreknown while sending the other away as not predestined? Never! Therefore, "you should not make excuses for your sins" (Psalm 140:4, LXX), nor should you want to make the Apostle's words an occasion for your own destruction, but should run, all of you, to the Master Who calls you.
5 The just man shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me: but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. For my prayer shall still be against the things with which they are well pleased:
Athanasius of Alexandria · AD 373 Now these demons, if they see all Christians—and especially monks—joyfully laboring and making progress, first attack by attempting to place stumbling blocks in their way. Their "stumbling blocks" are filthy thoughts. But there is no need for us to fear the things they throw at us; through prayer and fasting and faith in the Lord the demons immediately fall.
Jerome · AD 420 Beside the path they have set a stumbling-block for me. That is: by bringing forward testimonies from the Scriptures, which seemed to have some semblance of reason, they were trying to deceive me.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The proud have hidden a trap for me" (ver. 5). He hath briefly described the whole body of the devil, when he saith, "the proud." Hence is it that for the most part they call themselves righteous when they are unrighteous. Hence is it that nothing is so grievous to them as to confess their sins. They are men who, being falsely righteous, must needs envy the truly righteous.
6 Their judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up. They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed:
Jerome · AD 420 I said to the Lord: You are my God. Unless a man is holy, he cannot say this little verse; he who is not reigned over by sin, he it is who says, 'The Lord is my portion.'
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 And what remains? What remedy amid such ills, in such temptations, such dangers? "I said unto the Lord, You are my God" [Psalm 140:6]. Loud is the voice of prayer, it excites confidence. Is He not the God of the others? Of whom is not He God, who is the true God? Yet is He specially theirs, who enjoy Him, who serve Him, who willingly submit to Him.
7 As when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground: Our bones are scattered by the side of hell.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Commending this to the ears of God, let him say, "Lord, Lord." Thou Lord-Lord, that is, most truly Lord, not like the lords-men, not like the lords who buy with money-bags, but the Lord who buys with His Blood. "Lord, Lord, Thou strength of my health" [Psalm 140:7], that is, who givest strength to my health. What is the meaning of "strength of my health"?
8 But to thee, O Lord, Lord, are my eyes: in thee have I put my trust, take not away my soul.
Jerome · AD 420 Do not hand me over, O Lord, from my desire to the sinner. Scripture says that 'if anyone looks upon a woman to lust after her, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' So this is what the prophet is saying: Because of my concupiscence, do not hand me over to the devil; rather, it is well for me to be judged in the deed, and not in the thought.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Deliver me not over, O Lord, by my own longing to the sinner" (ver. 8). Behold to what end Thy overshadowing shall avail for me, that I suffer not heat from myself. And what could that "sinner" do to me, rage as he would?
9 Keep me from the snare, which they have laid for me, and from the stumblingblocks of them that work iniquity.
Jerome · AD 420 The head of their compassing about, the labor of their own lips shall cover them. Just as a serpent, when it sees someone coming to strike it, makes a coil of its whole body and hides its head in the middle, where it knows its life resides: so too these heretics, by the discourse of the philosophers and of Aristotle and the rest, seem to hide themselves, and as it were to shiel…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The head of their going about, the toil of their own lips shall cover them" (ver. 9). Me, he saith, the shadow of Thy wings shall cover: for, "Thou hast covered me in the day of battle." Them what shall cover? "The head of their going about;" that is, pride. What is, "their going about"?
10 The wicked shall fall in his net: I am alone until I pass.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Coals of fire shall fall upon them upon earth, and Thou shalt cast them down" [Psalm 140:10]. What is, "upon earth"? Here, even in this life, here "coals of fire shall fall upon them." What are, "coals of fire"? We know these coals. Are they different from those of which we are about to speak?