Incline not my heart to [any] evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.
Ver. 4. Incline not my heart] Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. For the better ordering of his words, therefore, he prayeth, not to be delivered up to Satan, and to his own heart's lust (as he was, 1 Chronicles 21:1, with 2Sa 24:1), for God tempteth no man, but the devil and his own concupiscence, James 1:13,14, but to be bent the better way by God's overpowering, efficacious grace, and to be stablished with his free spirit.
To practise wicked works] The Vulgate rendereth it, ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis, to frame excuse for mine offences; but that, when I have over reacted, I may confess and forsake, and so find mercy. Gnalai significat operari cum occasione, praetextu, causa.
And let me not eat of their dainties] Their murdering morsels of iniquity; or their flatteries and baits, whereby Saul's courtiers sought to ensnare him. The Chaldee expoundeth it of their songs at banquets.