“Do not grant, O Lord, the desires of the wicked; do not further his wicked scheme, lest they be exalted. Selah” Psalm 140:8.

The above verse was covered in Psalm 140:6-8 and is included here to maintain context. The current post is shown below.

“As for the head of those who surround me, let the evil of their lips cover them; let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again.  Let not a slanderer be established in the earth; let evil hunt the violent man to overthrow him.” Psalm 140:9-11.

“As for the head of those who surround me, let the evil of their lips cover them…” this very confusing phrase might be made a little clearer by rephrasing it in this manner, “As for the heads of the men who surround me, let their evil words fall back upon their own heads.”

Because of the words and actions of these evil persons who vilify and slander King David, he calls out for the thing that God would do to wicked people like this, “let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again.”

At first, it was difficult not to interpret this as a call to send these individuals into hell due to the words burning coals, fire, and into deep pits that they rise not up from. It did not seem right for King David to call for anyone to be cast into hell; that is God’s judgment call. Fortunately, though I found a psalm that may clear this portion up, see below.

“The Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. Upon the wicked He will rain coals; fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.” Psalm 11:5-7.

Seen from this perspective coals represent the hot glowing coals as the mounting weight of sin that these wicked and violent people pile upon themselves in the sight of the omniscient God.

These nefarious people are continually hatching abominable plans and as they do they dig a pit in hell deeper and when they die, they will pay for each and every sin in that pit.

“Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity; yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood. He made a pit and dug it out, and has fallen into the ditch which he made. His trouble shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown.” Psalm 7:14-16.

“…let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again.” Psalm 140:10. It is interesting to compare the wording of verse 10 above with that of Psalm 11:6 shown next: “Upon the wicked He will rain coals; fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup [marginal; their allotted portion or serving].”

It is interesting to compare the similarity between the 2 verses such as, “…let burning coals fall upon them” Psalm 140:10, and “Upon the wicked He will rain coals…” Psalm 11:6a.

In the first case King David is calling for the Lord to give the wicked their just deserts for their evil deeds. In the second case King David shows the wicked reaping what they sow for their godless and unrighteous deeds.

So then, it is evident that both psalms are references to life experiences that the wicked live through as they, without repentance, sin their way to a godless, Christless death.

That these refer to life experiences is indicated by the phrase, “shall be the portion of their cup [marginal; their allotted portion or serving].” in Psalm 11:6b.

The burning coals represent the weight of their sins as they are piled upon them throughout their lives.

Returning to our study of Psalm 140:9-11 let us review verse 10 a little further, “let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again.” We have seen that if the burning coals represent the weight of sin piling up on the shoulders of the wicked, what of the next phrase, “…let them be cast into the fire…”?

The fire here can be literal fire or it can also mean the fire of the wrath of God. The wrath of God is more likely because all we have seen so far is the hatred of God toward godless wicked men.

The last phrase in verse 10 is very curious, “into deep pits, that they rise not up again.” If they are cast into the fire of God’s wrath; what are the deep pits?

According to Strong’s Concordance these are actually watery pits; and in some translations whirlpools. Again, this does not appear to be pits to drown in, but rather deep pits which signify a life of misery which they cannot rise up from.

This corelates with Psalm 11:6 where it states that “…a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup [marginal; their allotted portion or serving].” This also describes the misery allotted to these God haters who are in deep pits of turbulent waters.

Consider the following as a clearer vision of the misery of a burning wind:

“Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.’” Jeremiah 17:5-6.

The desert shrub grows, “in a salt land which is not inhabited” and knows nothing better, so it is with the godless who live in these arid places and think that stress and misery is as good as it gets.

“Surely You [God] set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image.” Psalm 73:18-20.

Below is the last verse in our study.

“Let not a slanderer be established in the earth; let evil hunt the violent man to overthrow him.” Psalm 140:11.

“Let not a slanderer be established in the earth…” a slanderer (a liar) is someone who defames another with the intent of embarrassing them or ruining their reputation. This is a vicious sort of person, many of whom we hear from daily among politicians

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Revelation 21:8.

“But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral [whoremongers] and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.” Revelation 22:15.

All slanderers are vicious liars and will suffer the same fate as those in the above verses.

“…let evil hunt the violent man to overthrow him.” Psalm 140:11.

This last phrase in verse 11 is something we do not often see especially when we think of Chairman Mao of China who died age 82 years, Joseph Stalin of Russia died at age 74 years, and Fidel Castro of Cuba, died at 90 years old. Still as it says in Psalm 73, “Surely You [God] set them in slippery places…” these men lived their lives in “the misery of a burning wind”.

Bear in mind that these men are rotting in hell right now for eternity! Could God have given them these beautiful countries to rule over in righteousness? Instead, they murdered millions, grasped power and riches and lived for themselves.

“It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness, for a throne is established by righteousness.” Proverbs 16:12.

The 1930s and 1940s gangsters had a short life span, all of them a murderous lot who often killed innocent people without warning.

Some familiar names are as follows:
Bonny and Clyde, Bonny died at age 23 years, Clyde was 25 years old, both were riddled with bullets.
John Dillinger died 31 years old, shot outside a movie theater.
Baby Face Nelson dead at 25 years, shot 9 times in a gunfight.
Bugsy Siegel died at age 41, shot in ambush while relaxing on a couch at his girlfriend’s rental.

“Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear [means piety, reverently trust] of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” Psalm 34:11-14.

Psalm 140:9-11 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 9-27-26 c.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.