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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Psalms 40

Psalm 40: a new song from the pit and a cry for haste

General context

The speaker says he waited patiently for the Lord, who inclined to him and heard his cry, brought him up out of a horrible pit and miry clay, set his feet on a rock and established his goings. God has put a new song in his mouth, praise to our God, and many will see it, fear, and trust in the Lord. He calls blessed the man who makes the Lord his trust and does not respect the proud or those who turn aside to lies. He says God's wonderful works and thoughts toward us are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering God did not desire; God has opened his ears; burnt offering and sin offering he has not required. Then he said, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of him, and he delights to do God's will, for God's law is within his heart. He has preached righteousness in the great congregation and has not hidden God's righteousness, faithfulness, salvation, lovingkindness and truth. He asks the Lord not to withhold his tender mercies, because innumerable evils have compassed him and his iniquities have taken hold of him, more than the hairs of his head, so that his heart fails. He asks the Lord to deliver him and make haste to help, that those who seek his soul be ashamed and driven backward, that those who say Aha, aha be desolate, and that all who seek God rejoice and say, The Lord be magnified. He ends poor and needy, saying the Lord thinks on him, and asks his God to make no tarrying.

Cited passages: Psalms 40:1, Psalms 40:2, Psalms 40:3, Psalms 40:4, Psalms 40:5, Psalms 40:6, Psalms 40:7, Psalms 40:8, Psalms 40:9, Psalms 40:10, Psalms 40:11, Psalms 40:12, Psalms 40:13, Psalms 40:14, Psalms 40:15, Psalms 40:16, Psalms 40:17

Psalms 40 (KJV)

1I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

2He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

3And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

4Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

5Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

6Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

7Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,

8I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

9I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest.

10I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

11Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

12For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

13Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.

14Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

15Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.

16Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.

17But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The text as printed here carries no heading; verse 1 opens with "I waited patiently for the Lord", so this source names no author, occasion or musical direction. The speaker is a single "I" who addresses the Lord throughout, while verses 3 and 5 widen to "our God" and "us-ward". The "horrible pit" and "miry clay" are the speaker's description of a past rescue; the text does not say what the pit was. "The volume of the book" and what is "written of me" are named without saying which book or what it says. The "great congregation" where he preached is not located. Verse 12 says the speaker's own iniquities have taken hold of him, so the present trouble includes his own wrongdoing, not only enemies; those who "seek after my soul" and say "Aha, aha" are unnamed. Verses 6 to 8 are quoted in the Letter to the Hebrews: "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me" and "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God", where the psalm's "mine ears hast thou opened" appears as "a body hast thou prepared me". Verses 13 to 17 reappear with small changes as Psalm 70, which opens "Make haste, O God, to deliver me".

Cited passages: Psalms 40:1, Psalms 40:5, Psalms 40:2, Psalms 40:7, Psalms 40:12, Hebrews 10:5, Hebrews 10:7, Psalms 40:6, Psalms 70:1

Literary context

The psalm runs in two directions. The first half looks back on a rescue and a new song, with a rock replacing miry clay and a song replacing a cry; the second half, from verse 11, is a fresh plea for haste. The hinge is the pair of "innumerable" things: God's wonderful works are "more than can be numbered", and then the speaker's iniquities are "more than the hairs of mine head". In the middle stands a statement about sacrifice set against obedience, with "Lo, I come" and "thy law is within my heart", followed by a string of denials in the first person: not refrained, not hid, not concealed. The enemies get a single line of mockery, "Aha, aha", and the answering wish is that those who seek God say "The Lord be magnified". The closing verse is a self-description, "poor and needy", set against "the Lord thinketh upon me", and ends on an unanswered "make no tarrying". The same ending, "O Lord, make no tarrying", closes Psalm 70.

Cited passages: Psalms 40:2, Psalms 40:3, Psalms 40:5, Psalms 40:12, Psalms 40:8, Psalms 40:10, Psalms 40:15, Psalms 40:16, Psalms 40:17, Psalms 70:5

Key moments

  1. Up from the horrible pit (Psalms 40:2). The Lord brings the speaker out of the pit and miry clay and sets his feet on a rock.
  2. A new song (Psalms 40:3). God puts a new song in his mouth, and many will see it, fear and trust.
  3. Not sacrifice but opened ears (Psalms 40:6). The speaker says God did not desire sacrifice and offering but opened his ears.
  4. Lo, I come (Psalms 40:7). He says it is written of him in the volume of the book, and he delights to do God's will.
  5. Preached in the congregation (Psalms 40:9). He has declared God's righteousness in the great congregation and not refrained his lips.
  6. More than the hairs of my head (Psalms 40:12). Innumerable evils and his own iniquities take hold of him so that his heart fails.
  7. Poor and needy, make no tarrying (Psalms 40:17). He calls himself poor and needy and asks his God not to delay.

For reflection

The speaker has a new song and a rock under his feet, and in the same breath his heart fails him under iniquities past counting; how does the poem hold the remembered rescue and the present cry together?

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