Psalm 41:1-9

1 (40-1) <Unto the end, a psalm for David himself.> (40-2) Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor: the Lord will deliver him in the evil day.

2 (40-3) The Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth: and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.

3 (40-4) The Lord help him on his bed of sorrow: thou hast turned all his couch in his sickness.

4 (40-5) I said: O Lord, be thou merciful to me: heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.

5 (40-6) My enemies have spoken evils against me: when shall he die and his name perish?

6 (40-7) And if he came in to see me, he spoke vain things: his heart gathered together iniquity to itself. He went out and spoke to the same purpose.

7 (40-8) All my enemies whispered together against me: they devised evils to me.

8 (40-9) They determined against me an unjust word: shall he that sleepeth rise again no more?

9 (40-10) For even the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, hath greatly supplanted me.

Psalm 41:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. In this psalm is a prophecy concerning Christ, and concerning Judas Iscariot, as runs part of the title in the Syriac version; and in the Arabic version it is called a prophecy concerning the incarnation, and the salutation of Judas; and certain it is that Psalm 41:9 is to be understood of him, and of his betraying Christ into the hands of his enemies, since it is cited and applied to him by our Lord himself, John 13:18; so that having such a sure rule of interpretation, we may safely venture to explain the whole psalm of Christ, which treats both of his humiliation and exaltation; for it neither agrees with David wholly, nor with Hezekiah, to whom some ascribe it, as Theodoret remarks.