Psalms 140:4

STROPHE II

"Keep me, O Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked;

Preserve me from the violent man:

Who have purposed to thrust aside my steps.

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)"

Here again, as in the first strophe, we have the singular nouns coupled with plural verbs, indicating the collective meaning of the nouns. "The wicked" and "violent man" are singular, but the verbs "have purposed," "have hid" and "have set" are plural. The rendition in the RSV is correct.

Other Davidic psalms reflecting the same thoughts and terminology that we find here are Psalms 16:2; Psalms 10:2; and Psalms 25:19.

The devices of the wicked enemies trying to destroy David appear in this strophe under three metaphors: (1) the trap; (2) the cords; and (3) the net. "The trap was a snare as in KJV; the cords refer to a kind of noose hidden in the ground so as to catch the leg; and the net was used to catch birds or sea creatures."[10] The archaic word "gin" means a rather intricate trap.