“Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 140:11 Mean?
The psalmist prays that evil speakers not be established in the earth — that their influence not take root. And then he describes the mechanism of their downfall: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. The evil they perpetrated becomes the hunter that pursues them. The violence they deployed becomes the predator that tracks them.
The imagery is self-destructive justice: evil hunts the evil person. The violent person is pursued not by an external avenger but by their own violence — turned back, redirected, transformed from weapon to predator. What they sent out comes back for them.
The word "hunt" (tsud — to chase, to pursue, to stalk as prey) means the evil person becomes the hunted. The one who was the predator — spreading evil, deploying violence — is now the prey. The roles reverse. And the reversal is permanent: "to overthrow" (madchephah — a pushing, an overthrow, a ruin).
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you seen the pattern — evil returning to its source, the violent person hunted by their own violence?
- 2.Does the self-destructive nature of evil (it comes back for the deployer) reduce your need for personal vengeance?
- 3.How does 'evil shall hunt the violent man' describe the moral architecture of the universe?
- 4.Where might evil you've deployed be circling back — and does this verse serve as a warning?
Devotional
Don't let the evil speaker take root. And let the evil he spread become the hunter that destroys him.
The psalmist prays for poetic justice — the most precise kind. Not external punishment imposed from outside. Internal recoil: the evil the violent person produced becomes the force that pursues them. What they sent out circles back. The violence they deployed hunts them. The predator becomes the prey.
"Evil shall hunt the violent man" — the evil isn't a separate entity. It's his evil. The violence he perpetrated. The words he spoke. The damage he caused. All of it becomes animate — a predator with his scent, tracking him, closing in, designed to overthrow the very person who released it.
This is the universe's moral architecture: evil doesn't dissipate. It returns. The violence you deploy doesn't dissolve into nothing after it lands on its target. It circles. It acquires the scent of its deployer. And eventually it comes back — as a hunter. A pursuer. A force that's no longer under your control and is now aimed at you.
"To overthrow him" — the hunting has a goal: total ruin. Not a slap on the wrist. Overthrow. The evil speaker who seemed so established is brought down by the very evil he established. The house he built with violence collapses on the builder.
This is why vengeance isn't your job. The evil doesn't need your help to find its source. It knows the way home. The violence deployed against you is already circling back toward the deployer. Your job isn't to chase. The evil will do its own chasing.
Let the evil hunt. It knows where to go.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth,.... One that sets his mouth against the heavens, and speaks evil of…
Let not an evil speaker - literally, “A man of tongue.” That is, a man whom the tongue rules; a man of an unbridled…
Here is the believing foresight David had,
I. Of the shame and confusion of persecutors.
1. Their disappointment. This…
A slanderer shall not be established in the land] Cp. Psa 101:5.
to overthrowhim] Again the idea is that of the evil…
Cross References
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