Psalm 140 is a prayer of David against a violent man who was attacking him especially with his tongue. The phrase “man of violence(s)” occurs three times, in verses 3, 4 and 11. The word “tongue” occurs in verses 3 and 11. While David was in great trouble, he was not greatly shaken by it. In this psalm anyway, his confidence in the Lord is strong, and he expresses it strongly in the central verse of the psalm (v. 7) and again in the last two verses.
The name “Yahweh” is the most prominent name in the psalm. Lord and God each appear once but Yahweh seven times. That is the covenant name, and this is another way that David demonstrates his confidence in the Lord’s faithfulness to his promises.
The violent man had helpers. David keeps on changing from the singular to the plural when he is talking about his enemy. Consider verse 1 and verses 2-3; 4 and 5; 8 and 9-10; finally verse 11.
Note the word “overthrow” in verses 4 and 11. In verse 4 the man of violence purposes to overthrow David’s steps, but in verse 11 David says that evil will hunt the same man to overthrowings. The Lord will bring on him the evil he planned for others. His violent dealings will come down on his own head (Ps. 7:16).
I’ve laid out the chiastic structure of the psalm below:
Structure-Psalm-140