Psalm 141 · a question people ask

"Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness" (141:5). What does this verse mean?

In the text

Here is what the words are. In Hebrew the first half of the verse is six words: let him strike me, righteous, kindness, and let him reprove me, oil, head. The Hebrew has no words for the WEB's it is or like; the WEB supplies them. The verb for strike is halam, which elsewhere is "They beat me" (Proverbs 23:35) and Jael's blow when "she struck Sisera" (Judges 5:26) (tap strike). The verb for reprove is the one in "Reprove a wise person, and he will love you" (Proverbs 9:8) (tap reprove). Kindness is chesed, the word the WEB often gives as loving kindness (tap kindness). Then comes "don’t let my head refuse it" (141:5) (tap refuse). The verse's last line, "Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds" (141:5), is also compact in Hebrew: for still, and my prayer, in their evils. The Hebrew has their, which the WEB doesn't show, and the psalm doesn't say whose. The Hebrew noun, ra'ah, is given by Brown-Driver-Briggs as "evil, misery, distress, injury", and also "ethical evil"; the WEB takes it as evil deeds. The psalm doesn't say more, and these notes don't choose a reading for it.

The verses

“Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness; let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head; don’t let my head refuse it; Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.”
Psalm 141:5 · World English Bible
““They hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I don’t feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I will look for more.””
Proverbs 23:35 · World English Bible
“She put her hand to the tent peg, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer. With the hammer she struck Sisera. She struck through his head. Yes, she pierced and struck through his temples.”
Judges 5:26 · World English Bible
“Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise person, and he will love you.”
Proverbs 9:8 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 141

Psalm 141: Set a watch before my mouth

Psalm 141's watch before the mouth is a word the Hebrew Bible has only here (141:3), and its door of the lips has a lexicon entry for this verse alone. It asks for prayer to be received like incense and the evening offering (141:2), calls the blow of the righteous kindness (141:5), and turns its eyes to the LORD (141:8).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions