Psalms Chapter 141 verse 5 Holy Bible

ASV Psalms 141:5

Let the righteous smite me, `it shall be' a kindness; And let him reprove me, `it shall be as' oil upon the head; Let not my head refuse it: For even in their wickedness shall my prayer continue.
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BBE Psalms 141:5

Let the upright give me punishment; and let the god-fearing man put me in the right way; but I will not let the oil of sinners come on my head: when they do evil I will give myself to prayer.
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DARBY Psalms 141:5

Let the righteous smite me, it is kindness; and let him reprove me, it is an excellent oil which my head shall not refuse: for yet my prayer also is [for them] in their calamities.
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KJV Psalms 141:5

Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.
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WBT Psalms 141:5


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WEB Psalms 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.
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YLT Psalms 141:5

The righteous doth beat me `in' kindness. And doth reprove me, Oil of the head my head disalloweth not, For still my prayer `is' about their vexations.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 5. - Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness; rather, let the righteous smite me kindly, as in the margin. And let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head; rather, which my head shall not refuse. The psalmist will prefer the reproof of the righteous to the dainty allurements of the wicked. He will regard their words as an oil of welcome, such as was poured upon the head of favored guests (Luke 7:36), and his head will not refuse it. For yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities; rather, their wickednesses. This healing oil will strengthen him to continue to pray for his enemies, even though they still continue in their "wickednesses."

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(5) The difficulties of the psalm thicken here. Render, Let a righteous man smite me, it is a kindness; and let him reprove me, it is oil for the head: my head shall not refuse it though it continue; yet my prayer is against their wickedness.The word rendered "smite" is that used of Jael's "hammer strokes "(Judges 5:26). (Comp. Isaiah 41:7.) The Hebrew for "reprove" is probably used in a judicial sense, as in Genesis 31:37; Isaiah 2:4; Proverbs 24:25, &c. The greatest obscurity attaches to the word rendered above "refuse," but in the Authorised Version "break," probably because in Psalm 33:10 (" bring to none effect") it is in parallelism with "break." The LXX. and Vulg. take it as meaning "anoint," rendering (from a different text to ours) "let not oil of a wicked man anoint my head." If we might adopt this reading it would remove the difficulty of this part of the verse, and give an excellent parallelism: "A righteous man may smite me in mercy and reprove me, but let not a wicked man's oil anoint my head;" i.e., I would welcome reproof from the righteous, but reject even the festive oil offered by the wicked. For the rendering "wickednesses," instead of "calamities," comp. Job 20:12; Psalm 94:23. For the sense of "although" given to the conjunction, see Exodus 13:17. The suffix "their" refers back, of course, to the ungodly in Psalm 141:4. The "oil for the head" (comp. Psalm 45:7) is a natural emblem of festivity, and the whole sentiment of the passage is tolerably clear. Rather than join in the wicked mirth of a profane banquet, the poet would be the object of continued rebuke and chastisement from one of the godly--his prayer meanwhile still rising for protection against the allurements held out to tempt him. We probably have sketched here the actual condition of many a Levite between the apostate and the loyal part of the nation. . . .