Read & explore together
Come Quickly to Me
Psalm 141 is a prayer-song asking Yahweh to come quickly, receive prayer, guard speech, turn the heart away from evil, and give refuge from traps set by wicked people.
Understanding the passage
Read these words in context
In this psalm, the speaker calls to Yahweh for help and describes prayer with worship language such as incense and evening sacrifice. The psalm moves from asking for personal guarding of mouth and heart to asking for rescue from snares and the downfall of the wicked.
Psalms 141:1–10Main takeaway
This psalm teaches that a person may ask Yahweh both to shape their inner life and to protect them from evil around them.
Explore the poem and its images
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A quick cry for God to hearThe psalm opens with urgency: “Come to me quickly” and “Listen to my voice”. Prayer is compared to incense, and lifted hands are compared to the evening sacrifice.
Explanation
The psalm opens with urgency: “Come to me quickly” and “Listen to my voice”. Prayer is compared to incense, and lifted hands are compared to the evening sacrifice. The poetry does not describe a new event. It presents prayer as something offered before Yahweh with seriousness and worship.
02Guard my mouth and heartThe speaker asks Yahweh to “set a watch” before the mouth and keep “the door” of the lips.
Explanation
The speaker asks Yahweh to “set a watch” before the mouth and keep “the door” of the lips. Then the prayer goes deeper, asking that the heart not be turned toward evil deeds or shared pleasures with wrongdoers. The psalm joins words, desires, and actions together in one request for help.
03Welcoming correction and speaking against evilA rebuke from the righteous is called kindness, like oil on the head, so correction is pictured as something good to receive, not reject.
Explanation
A rebuke from the righteous is called kindness, like oil on the head, so correction is pictured as something good to receive, not reject. At the same time, the speaker keeps praying against evil deeds. Verse 6 is brief and difficult, but it still points to the value of the speaker’s well-spoken words.
04Refuge from snaresThe psalm includes a hard image of bones scattered near Sheol, showing deep trouble and vulnerability.
Explanation
The psalm includes a hard image of bones scattered near Sheol, showing deep trouble and vulnerability. Yet the closing movement is trust: the speaker fixes eyes on Yahweh the Lord, asks not to be left destitute, and prays to be kept from snares and traps while the wicked fall into their own nets.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What comparisons does the psalm use for prayer, and what do they show about how the speaker views prayer?
Look at the images of incense, lifted hands, and evening sacrifice to describe prayer using the psalm’s own words.
02Why does the speaker ask for both guarded lips and a protected heart?
Trace how the psalm links speech, inward desire, and joining in evil practices.
03How does the ending of the psalm move from danger to trust?
Notice the words about eyes on Yahweh, refuge, snares, traps, and passing by safely.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Psalms 141:1–10
1Yahweh, I have called on you. Come to me quickly! Listen to my voice when I call to you.
2Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
3Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips.
4Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.
5Let 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.
6Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock. They will hear my words, for they are well spoken.
7“As when one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”
8For my eyes are on you, Yahweh, the Lord. I take refuge in you. Don’t leave my soul destitute.
9Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, from the traps of the workers of iniquity.
10Let the wicked fall together into their own nets while I pass by.