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Psalm 140:9

As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.

7LORD, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
8LORD, don’t grant the desires of the wicked. Don’t let their evil plans succeed, or they will become proud. Selah.
9As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
10Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise.
11An evil speaker won’t be established on the earth. Evil will hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
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← Psalm 140:8Psalm 140:10 →
Notice

Surrounded by enemies, the speaker asks for judgment: that the harm done by their lips would fall on their own heads.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What is hard for you about praying for someone's own words to bring judgment upon them?

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How does God's covering of the speaker's head in verse 7 shape your reading of this plea?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 7:16The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.Both describe harm returning to the head of the person who caused it.
Proverbs 18:7A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.Both connect destructive speech with harm falling upon the person whose lips produced it.
Psalm 141:10Let the wicked fall together into their own nets while I pass by.Both prayers ask that the wicked suffer from the very means they use to harm others.
Psalm 10:7His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.Both locate mischief in an enemy's speech, naming the mouth or lips as a source of harm.
Psalm 64:8Their own tongues shall ruin them. All who see them will shake their heads.Both describe enemies being harmed by their own speech, though one asks for this and the other declares it.
Proverbs 12:13An evil man is trapped by sinfulness of lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble.Both connect evil speech with consequences that catch the person speaking it.
1 Kings 2:23Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.Both associate a person's own words with grave consequences for that same person.
Proverbs 10:6Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.Both use the language of covering and parts of the body to describe harm associated with wickedness.
Proverbs 10:11The mouth of the righteous is a spring of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.Both connect wicked speech with harm; the proverb also contrasts it with a mouth that gives life.
Esther 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was pacified.Both concern harm returning upon its source: malicious speech in the psalm, and Haman's gallows in Esther.
Esther 9:25but when this became known to the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked plan, which he had planned against the Jews, should return on his own head, and …Both describe evil returning upon the offender's own head, through harmful speech or a murderous plan.
Ecclesiastes 10:12The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but a fool is swallowed by his own lips.Both portray a person's own lips as the source of harm that overtakes that person.
Where this verse fits

Injustice and anger. work conflict.

What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Ask God to stop harm from destructive words

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Encouragement

This is a severe prayer spoken amid threats of violence. The speaker brings the demand for judgment to God, asking that enemies bear the harm their own words have caused.

Now put it in your words.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).