God’s Faithfulness and Deliverance
For the music director. Of David. A psalm.[a]
40 I waited patiently for Yahweh,
And he inclined to me
and heard my cry for help.
2 And so he brought me up from the roaring pit,[b]
from the miry clay.
And he put my feet upon a rock;
he made my steps steady.
3 Then he put a new song in my mouth,
a praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and will trust Yahweh.
4 Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust
and does not turn to the proud and to those who fall away to a lie.[c]
5 Many things, O Yahweh my God, you have done—
your wonderful deeds and your thoughts toward us.
There is none to compare with you.
If I tried to proclaim and tell of them,
they would be too numerous to count.
6 A sacrifice and offering you do not desire.
My ears you have opened.[d]
Burnt offering and sin offering you have not demanded.
7 Then I said, “Look, I come.
In the scroll of the book
it is written concerning me:
8 ‘I delight to do your will, O my God,
and your law is deep within me.’”[e]
9 I have brought good tidings of righteousness in the great congregation.
Look, I have not shut my lips.
O Yahweh, you surely know that.[f]
10 Your righteousness I have not hidden in the midst of my heart.
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation.
I have not concealed your loyal love or your faithfulness
from the great congregation.
11 As for you, O Yahweh, do not withhold your mercies from me.
Let your loyal love and your faithfulness
continually preserve me.
12 For evils without number have encompassed me.
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O Yahweh, to deliver me.
O Yahweh, hurry to help me.
14 Let them be shamed and abashed altogether
who seek to take away my life.[g]
Let them be repulsed and humiliated
who desire my harm.
15 Let them be appalled because of their shame,
those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
16 Let them rejoice and be glad in you,
all those who seek you.
Let them say continually, “Yahweh is great!”
—those who love your salvation.
17 But I am poor and needy.
Let my Lord consider me.
You are my help and my deliverer.
O my God, do not delay.
Footnotes
- Psalm 40:1 The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm; the English verse number is reduced by one
- Psalm 40:2 Some read “pit of destruction”
- Psalm 40:4 Or “false god”
- Psalm 40:6 Literally “Ears you have dug for me.”
- Psalm 40:8 Literally “in the midst of my intestines”
- Psalm 40:9 Literally “you, you know”
- Psalm 40:14 Or “soul”