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.+  2  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.  3  Then he put a new song in my mouth,+Praise to our God. Many will look on in aweAnd put their trust in Jehovah.  4  Happy is the man who trusts in JehovahAnd who does not look to the defiant or to those who are false.*  5  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!+  6  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.+  7  Then I said: “Look, I have come. In the scroll* it is written about me.+  8  To do your will, O my God, is my delight,*+And your law is deep within me.+  9  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.”