Psalms 40:1-17

  • Giving thanks to the incomparable God

    • God’s works too numerous to recount (5)

    • Sacrifices not God’s primary concern (6)

    • ‘To do your will is my delight’ (8)

To the director. Of David. A melody. 40  I earnestly hoped in* Jehovah,And he inclined his ear* to me and heard my cry for help.+   He brought me up out of a roaring pit,Out of the slimy mire. And he set my feet upon a crag;He made my footing secure.   Then he put a new song in my mouth,+Praise to our God. Many will look on in aweAnd put their trust in Jehovah.   Happy is the man who trusts in JehovahAnd who does not look to the defiant or to those who are false.*   How many things you have done,O Jehovah my God,Your wonderful works and your thoughts toward us.+ None can compare to you;+If I were to try to tell and speak of them,They would be too numerous to recount!+   Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,*+But you opened up my ears to hear.+ You did not ask for burnt offerings and sin offerings.+   Then I said: “Look, I have come. In the scroll* it is written about me.+   To do your will, O my God, is my delight,*+And your law is deep within me.+   I proclaim the good news of righteousness in the great congregation.+ Look! I do not restrain my lips,+O Jehovah, as you well know. 10  I do not cover over your righteousness in my heart. I declare your faithfulness and salvation. I do not hide your loyal love and your truth in the great congregation.”+ 11  O Jehovah, do not withhold your mercy from me. May your loyal love and your truth constantly safeguard me.+ 12  The calamities surrounding me are too many to count.+ So many of my errors overwhelm me that I cannot see my way;+They are more numerous than the hairs of my head,And I have lost heart. 13  Please be willing, O Jehovah, to save me.+ O Jehovah, hurry to help me.+ 14  May all those seeking to take my life*Be put to shame and disgraced. May those who delight in my calamityRetreat in humiliation. 15  May those who are saying to me: “Aha! Aha!” Be appalled because of their own shame. 16  But let those seeking you+Exult and rejoice in you.+ May those who love your acts of salvation always say: “May Jehovah be magnified.”+ 17  But I am helpless and poor;May Jehovah pay attention to me. You are my helper and my rescuer;+My God, do not delay.+

Footnotes

Or “waited patiently for.”
Or “bent down to listen.”
Or “to liars.”
Or “delight in.”
Lit., “the scroll of the book.”
Or “desire.”
Or “soul.”