Psalms 40:8-17

8 To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight, and thy law is within my heart.
9 I have published righteousness in the great congregation: behold, I have not withheld my lips, Jehovah, *thou* knowest.
10 I have not hidden thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
11 Withhold not thou, Jehovah, thy tender mercies from me; let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head: and my heart hath failed me.
13 Be pleased, O Jehovah, to deliver me; Jehovah, make haste to my help.
14 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be turned backward and confounded that take pleasure in mine adversity;
15 Let them be desolate, because of their shame, that say unto me, Aha! Aha!
16 Let all those that seek thee be glad and rejoice in thee; let such as love thy salvation say continually, Jehovah be magnified!
17 But I am afflicted and needy: the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer: my God, make no delay.

Psalms 40:8-17 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. Jarchi interprets this psalm of the Israelites, and of their deliverance and song at the Red sea. The title of it, in the Syriac version, is, "A psalm of David according to the letter, when Shemaiah brought the names of those who minister in the house of the Lord;" see 1 Chronicles 24:6; according to Kimchi, the subject of this psalm is the same with that of the two preceding; and R. Obadiah thinks it was composed by David, when he was recovered of a leprosy; but though it might be written by David, it was not written concerning himself, or on his own account, but of another. The title of this psalm is somewhat different from others in the order of the words; whereas it is usually put "a psalm of," or "for David"; here it is, "for David, a psalm"; and may be rendered, as Ainsworth observes, "a psalm concerning David"; not literally, but typically understood; not concerning David himself, but concerning his antitype and son, who is called by his name, Ezekiel 37:24; and that it is to be interpreted of him is evident from the application of Psalm 39:6, unto him by the apostle in Hebrews 10:5; and the whole of it is applicable to him; some apply it to Jeremiah in the dungeon, and others to Daniel in the den, as Theodoret observes.

Footnotes 4

The Darby Translation is in the public domain.