Psalms 141:5

Let the righteous smite me, it shall be kindness:

And let him reprove me, it shall be as oil for the head;

Let not my head refuse it:

But still let my prayer be against their evil doings.

From the prayer of Psalms 141:4 it is clear that the Psalmist had felt the seductiveness of worldly luxury, and apparently (cp. Psalms 141:9) godless men had been endeavouring to entice him to cast in his lot with them. On the other hand it would seem that he had been tempted to resent the correction and reproof of the godly, possibly not always offered in the most conciliatory way. He therefore prays that he may welcome correction as kindness, and reproof as the "ointment and perfume" which "rejoice the heart" (Proverbs 27:9), alluding no doubt to the oil with which his head would have been anointed at the banquets of the wicked (Amos 6:6). Smiteis of course a metaphor for severe correction. Cp. Proverbs 27:6, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend." The Book of Proverbs insists constantly on the value of reproof, which the wise man welcomes and the fool resents (Proverbs 3:11 f.; Proverbs 13:18; Proverbs 15:5; Proverbs 15:31-32; Proverbs 28:23), and the duty of neighbourly reproof is enjoined in the Law (Leviticus 19:17). Cp. Ecclesiastes 7:5.

The last line is obscure, and the text is possibly corrupt, but the general sense may be, -Let me not resent reproof, and associate with the wicked, but let me continue to pray against (or, in the midst of) their evil deeds." Neglecting the Heb. accents we might render, Let not my head refuse it, but again!(i.e. let him repeat his reproofs), and let my prayer be against their evil deeds.