Illuminated Coptic sanctuary banner

Psalm 141 (LXX 140) - Let My Prayer Be Set Forth as Incense

17 min read

Jump to chapter (153)
PsalmsSelect a chapter to jump directly
Intro123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151•
Audio narrationAlso in your podcast app

This narration is from a previous version of the study. The text on this page is current.

Psalm 141 is one of the Church’s great prayers for evening, speech, repentance, and holy endurance under pressure. It asks God to receive prayer like incense and lifted hands as an evening sacrifice, to guard the mouth, and to give the Psalmist a heart open to merciful correction rather than sinful approval. Augustine reads the evening sacrifice in the light of Christ’s Cross and Resurrection. Theodoret hears the prayer against the pressure of Saul’s pursuit of David.1, 2

In Coptic praying life, the Psalm is heard in the Twelfth Hour, the optional Veil Prayer, and the Midnight Prayer Third Watch. It teaches us to offer prayer, speak truth, receive correction, and keep our eyes on the Lord while snares remain near the path.3

Psalm Metadata

FieldNotes
NKJV / Masoretic numberingPsalm 141
Septuagint / Coptic numberingPsalm 140
Accepted authorDavid by the superscription.
Period in author’s lifeA Davidic persecution setting. Theodoret connects it with Saul’s pursuit of David and David’s refusal to speak wickedly against the Lord’s anointed.
Christ prophecy statusChristological by patristic fulfillment. Augustine identifies the evening sacrifice with Christ’s Passion and hears whole Christ, Head and Body, praying through the Psalm.
Coptic lectionary/service useAgpeya prayers: Twelfth Hour, optional Veil Prayer, and Midnight Prayer Third Watch. The Agpeya prints Psalm 140 (141).
Numbering issueThis note embeds Brenton LXX Psalm 140. The Agpeya prints Psalm 140 (141), while standard English numbering uses Psalm 141.

Historical and Scriptural Context

The superscription names David; it does not identify a particular event. Theodoret connects the prayer with Saul’s pursuit of him. In 1 Samuel 24 and 26, David refuses to kill Saul, even when others urge him on. He also speaks about the injustice done to him and asks for deliverance. Guarding his own actions does not make the danger imaginary or make him responsible for Saul’s pursuit.2

The Psalm begins with a cry to be heard. A distressed person may ask God for rescue before sorting out thoughts or finding the right words. Its later prayer for guarded speech is a request for help in responding faithfully, not a condition for deserving help. Truthful protest, reporting harm, and seeking safety are not pretexts for sin.

The incense language reaches deep into Scripture. Incense belonged to the worship of the tabernacle and temple (Exodus 30:1-10). Luke places Zechariah in the temple while “the whole multitude of the people was praying without at the time of incense” (Luke 1:10). Revelation joins incense and the prayers of the saints before God (Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4). Psalm 141 brings worship and the desire for a changed life together, but it does not ask us to become pure before we pray.

Augustine reads the evening offering in the light of Christ: the Lord voluntarily lays down His life on the Cross, and the Church prays as His Body. This Christian reading receives the Psalm’s original cry rather than replacing it.1

Geographical Significance ⛰️

The Psalm’s rock, grave, path, and snares give danger a physical shape. In Theodoret’s reading, they can recall David’s wilderness life, with its hiding places and pursuit, though the superscription fixes no location. Spiritually, the setting is also the close of day: speech has been used, wounds may have been received, and we can bring the day honestly to God.

The Agpeya setting makes this image pastoral. At the Twelfth Hour, prayer before sleep can remind us of mortality and our need for God’s care. The optional Veil Prayer, especially associated with monastic use, and the Midnight Third Watch invite watchfulness in the night. Watchfulness is not a demand to overcome illness, grief, trauma, or exhaustion by force of will.

🕯️ Light from the Word

Psalm 140:1-2, prayer as incense and the evening sacrifice

140:1 A Psalm of David. O Lord, I have cried to thee; hear me: attend to the voice of my supplication, when I cry to thee.
140:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.

The cry is not theatrical. Theodoret understands it as the soul’s eagerness and recalls that Moses was silent when God asked him, “Why do you cry to Me?” (Exodus 14:15). Prayer can be loud without sound when the whole heart is stretched toward God.2

Augustine hears the Church still crying because tribulation continues: “if tribulation remain for the Church, for the Body of Christ, even to the end of the world, let it not only say, ‘I have cried unto Thee,’ but also, ‘Listen unto the voice of my prayer.’” The prayer is David’s, and the Church also takes it on her lips while living between the Cross and the final morning.4

The incense image is not generic spirituality. Incense is worship. It rises because fire touches it. Prayer, too, is an offering to God, not a performance of well-arranged words. Theodoret associates raised hands with the actions entrusted to them. Prayer and life cannot be separated, yet the cry for help is already prayer, even when a person feels scattered or unable to do much.2

Augustine hears the evening sacrifice as a figure of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection:

“That then is the ‘evening sacrifice,’ the Passion of the Lord, the Cross of the Lord, the offering of a salutary Victim, the whole burnt offering acceptable to God. That ‘evening sacrifice’ produced, in His Resurrection, a morning offering.”1

Evening does not end in darkness. In Christ, the evening sacrifice produces the morning offering of resurrection. This reception deepens the Psalm’s offering of prayer without denying its own voice.

Psalm 140:3-4, the guarded mouth and the door that opens to confession

140:3 Set a watch, O Lord, on my mouth, and a strong door about my lips.
140:4 Incline not my heart to evil things, to employ pretexts for sins, with men who work iniquity: and let me not unite with their choice ones.

The Psalm moves from incense to the mouth because worship and speech belong together. James warns against blessing God and cursing people made in God’s likeness with the same tongue (James 3:9-10). The mouth that offers prayer asks to be guarded too.

Augustine notices that the Psalm asks for a door, not a wall:

“A door is opened as well as shut. If then it be a ‘door,’ let it be both opened and shut; opened, to confession of sin; closed, to excusing sin.”5

The mouth is not to be sealed into silence. It can open for confession, praise, prayer, apology, and truth. It can close against gossip, revenge, and the clever explanation that makes a chosen wrong look right. Telling a trustworthy person about abuse or reporting it to an appropriate authority is truthful speech, not gossip or a failure of forgiveness.

“Pretexts for sins” names the ways we can excuse what we have chosen: I was hurt; therefore I was entitled to hurt someone else. Augustine warns against self-justification; Theodoret sees David refusing to make Saul’s wrongdoing an excuse for killing him.6, 2 This is different from coercion or a person’s responses to trauma, illness, grief, and exhaustion. We should not assume that another person’s fear, limited choices, or need for refuge is a voluntary sin.

In family life, church service, leadership, and ministry, speech can become a courtroom where the self is always innocent. The Psalm asks God to open confession instead. Before sending an angry message, pause and ask what is true and necessary. If someone is in danger, seek help rather than waiting for perfect composure.

Psalm 140:5-7, righteous wounds, sinful oil, and the sweetness of truthful words

140:5 The righteous shall chasten me with mercy, and reprove me: but let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head: for yet shall my prayer also be in their pleasures.
140:6 Their mighty ones have been swallowed up near the rock: they shall hear my words, for they are sweet.
140:7 As a lump of earth is crushed upon the ground, our bones have been scattered by the mouth of the grave.

The Psalmist would rather receive merciful correction than the flattering oil of sinners. This is a searching word for anyone who leads or serves: pleasant approval can make compromise seem harmless. Proverbs says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6). Psalm 141 makes the preference for honest friendship a prayer.

Theodoret contrasts correction intended for a person’s good with the pleasant gifts of sinners. Augustine likewise distinguishes merciful correction from hatred, and calls undue praise flattery.2, 7 This matters in confession and spiritual guidance. Cruelty, humiliation, manipulation, and coercion do not become righteous because a leader claims authority. The verse does not require anyone to submit to abuse; disagreement with a corrector is not automatically wounded pride. A person may seek refuge and trustworthy help.

The end of verse 5 is difficult. Brenton’s running text says the prayer is “in their pleasures”; his note suggests, as an explanation, that the speaker prays not to be injured by them. Theodoret, using a different rendering, understands a prayer for the conversion of those enjoying success. Neither explanation should be substituted silently for the words displayed above.8, 2

The mighty ones swallowed near the rock suggest a reversal of power, but the image is obscure. Theodoret compares their loss of influence to people overwhelmed while clinging to a rock. He understands those who hear as coming to recognize through experience the truth and benefit of the speaker’s words. Their sweetness is not the same as flattery. Augustine interprets the Rock as Christ and compares proud human authorities with Him; that is his Christological reading, not a meaning established merely by the word “rock.”2, 9

The next verse turns to the stark lament of our bones scattered at the grave. It does not say that the bones teach a lesson about flattery. Theodoret’s wording has their bones and he speaks of mortality; Augustine hears our bones as the bodies of slain witnesses to Christ.2, 10 These are distinct witnesses to a difficult passage. The communal grief in Brenton’s text must not be explained away.

Psalm 140:8-10, eyes fixed on God while snares remain

140:8 For mine eyes are to thee, O Lord God: I have hoped in thee; take not away my life.
140:9 Keep me from the snare which they have set for me, and from the stumbling-blocks of them that work iniquity.
140:10 Sinners shall fall by their own net: I am alone until I shall escape.

The Psalm does not pretend that danger is gone. The snares remain, and the speaker asks for life and escape. The Christian does not need to solve every danger before praying. We can turn our eyes to God while danger still exists, and take practical steps toward safety.

The final verse also speaks hard judgment: the sinners fall by their own net. Theodoret understands a divine reckoning in which those who set traps meet retribution.2 The prayer entrusts judgment to God; it does not invite us to set a trap in return, enjoy another person’s ruin, or treat anyone with contempt. The desire for protection and accountability can coexist with prayer for repentance.

The loneliness of “I am alone until I shall escape” is real, and “until” leaves room for hope. Augustine reads his wording as Christ alone until His Passover, recalling the disciples’ desertion; Theodoret understands separation from the wicked until death. These are not identical to Brenton’s wording about escape.11, 2

Christ’s cry on the Cross gives voice to real desolation (Mark 15:34-37). His disciples deserted Him, but the Father did not abandon the Son, and there was no rupture in the Trinity. Augustine explicitly rejects that inference.1 The Cross looked like isolation and defeat, yet Christ’s Resurrection is the morning offering. We can pray at night without pretending the night has already passed.

The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖

The retained Agpeya pages place the whole Psalm prayer, without the superscription, in the Twelfth Hour, optional Veil Prayer, and Midnight Prayer Third Watch. They print it as Psalm 140 (141): Coptic/LXX Psalm 140 corresponding to standard English Psalm 141. Their wording and verse divisions differ from Brenton. In particular, the service text speaks of their bones and ends with being alone until iniquity passes by, not Brenton’s our bones and escape.3

The Twelfth Hour invites prayer before sleep. The Veil Prayer offers a setting for watchfulness, especially in monastic practice. In the Midnight Third Watch, the Psalm gives words to a night of waiting and prayer. These are spiritual applications of the settings, not proof of additional appointments.

For context, the frozen local package lists the following companions. References are standard English/MT, followed by the package’s LXX reference in parentheses; chapter-only entries do not assert a particular verse offset:

  • Twelfth Hour and Third Watch: Psalms 130 (129), 131 (130), 132 (131), 133 (132), 134 (133), 137 (136), 138 (137), 141 (140), 142 (141), 146 (145), 147:1-11 (146:1-11), and 147:12-20 (147:12-20). The listed Gospels are respectively Luke 2:25-32 and Luke 12:32-46.
  • Optional Veil Prayer: Psalms 4, 6, 13 (12), 16 (15), 25 (24), 27 (26), 67 (66), 70 (69), 23 (22), 30 (29), 43 (42), 57 (56), 86 (85), 91 (90), 97 (96), 110 (109), 116:1-9 (114:1-9), 116:10-19 (115:10-19), 121 (120), 129 (128), 130 (129), 131 (130), 132 (131), 133 (132), 134 (133), 137 (136), 141 (140), 146 (145), and 119:20-22 (118:20-22); the listed Gospel is John 6:15-23.12

The line “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense” also gives the Psalm a wider evening resonance. In a note to Theodoret, Robert Hill reports Artur Weiser’s observation about its use as an early Christian evening hymn; Hill says Theodoret himself is silent on that point. This is a modern secondary observation, not an independently established ancient service witness here.13

Iconography Connection 🖼️

For teaching, Psalm 141 can be paired with images of the Crucifixion, David sparing Saul, incense, and monastic night prayer. Place the incense and the Cross together: Augustine’s reading connects the lifted hands of prayer with Christ’s offering. These are suggested visual connections, not claims about a particular installed icon.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

  1. Turn evening into offering. Bring the day to God truthfully, even if you have only a cry.
  2. Let Christ define sacrifice. Remember the Cross and the morning offering of His Resurrection.
  3. Guard speech under pressure. Refuse to make injury an excuse for injuring others, while speaking truth about harm.
  4. Open the door to confession. Let the lips open for repentance and close against excuses for chosen wrong.
  5. Prefer merciful correction to sinful approval. Seek honest guidance, not humiliation or coercion.
  6. Keep the eyes fixed while snares remain. Ask for help and take steps toward safety; escape may not be immediate, but hope holds the soul steady.

Footnotes

  1. Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLI, §3, on the voluntary Passion, the evening and morning offerings, and the Father’s union with the Son. Philip Schaff is general editor of the series; A. Cleveland Coxe edited and abridged the Oxford translation for this volume. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Psalm 141, comments on verses 1-10, in Robert C. Hill’s edition. The discussion here paraphrases the commentary; it does not reproduce Hill’s modern English. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11

  3. Retained Book of Agpeya capture, PDF pp. 161-162, 211-212, and 287-288. The three printed prayers are labeled Psalm 140 (141); each covers the Psalm apart from the superscription, with wording and clause divisions different from Brenton. These are retained captures, not fresh app verification. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLI, §2, NPNF1, vol. 8. The edition title is CXLI; its heading notes Latin CXL. ↩ ↩2

  5. Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLI, §4. ↩

  6. Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLI, §5, on self-justification. ↩

  7. Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLI, §7. He says that a corrector acting in hatred needs correction. ↩

  8. Brenton, Psalm 140:5, note to “pleasures”: the note is an explanatory suggestion, separate from the running text. ↩

  9. Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLI, §8, on the Rock and human authorities. ↩

  10. Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLI, §10, on the bones of Christ’s witnesses. ↩

  11. Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLI, §§13-14, on the disciples’ desertion and his Passover reading. ↩

  12. Frozen local package 1.3.9, working-local-source groups keyed twelfth_hour, third_watch, and veil_prayer; companion references are an index inventory, not consultation of a whole rite. The two Luke Gospel rows carry an unverified-service-book qualification: no exact Reader context was accepted for that printed-edition target in the bounded review. This is not a claim of global absence. The package record does not authorize a status change or establish fresh app verification. ↩ ↩2

  13. Robert C. Hill, note 2 to Theodoret, Commentary on Psalm 141, reporting Weiser and noting Theodoret’s silence about that historical use. ↩

Reading statusLoading your browser-local progress
Saved only in this browser
Referenced Fathers:

Created: | Updated:

Related Studies & References

Referenced in Other Studies