Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo
Read

Psalm 141:5

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.

3Set a watch, LORD, 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.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →
← Psalm 141:4Psalm 141:6 →
Notice

“Let the righteous strike me” is a hard request to read, even as the speaker names righteous reproof as kindness and oil on the head.

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

How does the comparison with oil on the head challenge your view of correction?

Write on this

What helps you receive a righteous person's reproof without refusing it?

Write on this

How might receiving correction connect with your own prayers against evil deeds?

Write on this
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
Proverbs 27:6The wounds of a friend are faithful, although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.Both passages describe something painful from a trustworthy person as an expression of faithfulness or kindness.
Ecclesiastes 7:5It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools.Both passages value rebuke from someone righteous or wise, treating correction as something worth receiving.
Revelation 3:19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.Both passages connect reproof with care: kindness in the psalm, and Christ's love in Revelation.
Proverbs 9:8Don’t reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you. Reprove a wise person, and he will love you.Both passages describe a receptive response to reproof, through refusing neither the correction nor the person who offers it.
Galatians 6:1Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to yourself so that you also …Both passages connect correction with care, naming kindness in the psalm and gentleness in the work of restoration.
Galatians 4:16So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?Both passages address how corrective truth is received, whether welcomed as kindness or treated as grounds for enmity.
Proverbs 27:5–6Better is open rebuke than hidden love.Both passages speak well of rebuke, with the psalm naming it kindness and Proverbs preferring it to hidden love.
Matthew 18:15“If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother.Both passages make room for correction between people and emphasize the importance of receiving it.
Proverbs 25:12As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover to an obedient ear.Both passages compare welcome correction to something valued: oil on the head and an ornament of gold.
Ephesians 5:11Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them.Both passages oppose evil deeds and include reproof as part of that opposition.
Galatians 2:11–14But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned.Both passages concern direct correction, which the psalm welcomes and Paul describes giving to Peter.
2 Chronicles 25:16As he talked with him, the king said to him, “Have we made you one of the king’s counselors? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” Then the prophet stopped, …Both passages concern receiving correction, but the king rejects counsel while the psalm's speaker asks to welcome reproof.
Where this verse fits

Guilt and confession. temptation. sermon or Bible study notes.

What the Bible says about guilt →What the Bible says about temptation →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Ask a trusted Christian friend for honest correction

relationaloncemedium
Encouragement

Within a prayer for God to guard against evil, righteous correction is welcomed as kindness. This gives no warrant for abuse; the prayer remains against evil deeds.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 141:5. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 141 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

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).