A Psalm by David.
1Yahweh, I have called on you.
Come to me quickly!
Listen to my voice when I call to you.
2Let my prayer be set before you like incense;
the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
3Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth.
Keep the door of my lips.
4Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing,
to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity.
Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.
5Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness;
let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head;
don’t let my head refuse it;
Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.
6Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock.
They will hear my words, for they are well spoken.
7“As when one plows and breaks up the earth,
our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”
8For my eyes are on you, Yahweh, the Lord.
I take refuge in you.
Don’t leave my soul destitute.
9Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me,
from the traps of the workers of iniquity.
10Let the wicked fall together into their own nets
while I pass by.
While Zechariah performs incense duty in the Temple, the multitude prays outside at the hour of incense — about the ninth hour, mid-afternoon. This is Friday, March 14, 3 B.C., consistent with priestly rotation patterns preserved in historical records.
The setting is deeply significant. Incense symbolizes prayer rising to God (cf. Psalms 141:2). The altar of incense stood before the veil, nearest the Holy of Holies, marking the boundary between earth and the divine presence. At that moment of national intercession, heaven answers. The place of prayer becomes the place of announcement.