Psalm 40:1-6

God’s Faithfulness and Deliverance

For the [music] director. Of David. A psalm.

1 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, 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.

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}. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not demanded.

Psalm 40:1-6 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

• [a] The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm; the English verse number is reduced by one
• [b] Some read "pit of destruction"
• [c] Or "false god"
• [d] Literally "Ears you have dug for me."