Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 140:10

"Let burning coals fall upon them: Let them be cast into the fire, Into deep pits, whence they shall not rise." — Psalms 140:10 (ASV)

In this verse also, there is a grammatical difficulty, which the marginal note, “Let there fall on them,” instead of “Let them bring upon them,” does not resolve, since the subject of the next verb is third person singular. The first verb is usually taken impersonally, as by the Septuagint; this version is actually to be followed in rendering coals of fire (literally, coals accompanied with fire, or, coals as fire), and we thus obtain the somewhat awkward but intelligible rendering—

“Let them bring upon them coals of fire;
Let him cast them into pits that they do not rise again.”

(Burgess.)

But a very slight change gives a plain grammatical sentence, with the subject carried on from the last verse:

“Let it (mischief) bring even upon themselves coals of fire;
Let it cast them into pits, so that they rise no more.”

(Burgess.)

The word “pits” is peculiar to the passage. Gesenius, deriving it from a root meaning “to boil up,” renders it “whirlpools,” which, as in Psalm 66:12, combines “water” with “fire” as joint emblems of perils that cannot be escaped. But Symmachus, Theodotion, and Jerome render it “ditches,” which is supported by a Rabbinical quotation given by Delitzsch: “First of all they burned them in pits; when the flesh was consumed they collected the bones, and burned them in coffins.”