Th. Booij, «Psalm 141: a Prayer for Discipline and Protection», Vol. 86 (2005) 97-106
Psalm 141 has national distress as its background. The
speaker of this text prays for discipline, not to be enticed by the ‘delicacies’
of profiteers, ‘workers of mischief’, and thus become involved in their
intrigues. Discipline, such as a righteous person may teach him, will enable him
to seek justice for these people when the present regime is overthrown. At the
end of the psalm the speaker asks his God that he himself be guarded from evil
which the ‘workers of mischief’ may plot against him. In vv. 4-6 all 3rd person
plural suffixes refer to those called Nw)-yl(p;
they are also the subject of w(m#$w (v. 6b). In
v. 4 twll( means ‘fabrications’. In v.
5 w dw( can be understood as ‘in the end’, and
tw(r as ‘troubles’.
«Psalm 132: Zion’s Well-Being» 2009 75-83
«Psalm 149,5: 'they shout with joy on their couches'» 2008 104-108
«Psalm 133: "Behold, how good and how pleasant"» 2002 258-267
«Psalm 127,2b: a Return to Martin Luther» 2000 262-268
«Psalm 119,89-91» 1998 539-541
«Psalms 120–136: Songs for a Great Festival.» 2010 241-255
«A Circumstantial Clause in Psalm 99,4» 2013 100-106
106 Th. Booij
SUMMARY
Psalm 141 has national distress as its background. The speaker of this text prays
for discipline, not to be enticed by the ‘delicacies’ of profiteers, ‘workers of
mischief’, and thus become involved in their intrigues. Discipline, such as a
righteous person may teach him, will enable him to seek justice for these people
when the present regime is overthrown. At the end of the psalm the speaker asks
his God that he himself be guarded from evil which the ‘workers of mischief’
may plot against him. In vv. 4-6 all 3rd person plural suffixes refer to those called
ˆwaAyl[p; they are also the subject of w[mvw (v. 6b). In v. 4 twll[ means
‘fabrications’. In v. 5 w dw[ can be understood as ‘in the end’, and tw[r as
‘troubles’.
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