Psalm 40-42
American Standard Version
A sacrifice of praise, and prayer for help.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
40 I waited patiently for Jehovah;
And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of [a]a horrible pit, out of the miry clay;
And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God:
Many shall see it, and fear,
And shall trust in Jehovah.
4 Blessed is the man that maketh Jehovah his trust,
And respecteth not the proud, nor such as [b]turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O Jehovah my God, are the wonderful works which thou hast done,
And thy thoughts which are to us-ward:
[c]They cannot be set in order unto thee;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and [d]offering thou hast no delight in;
[e]Mine ears hast thou opened:
Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required.
7 Then said I, Lo, I am come;
In the roll of the book it is [f]written of me:
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God;
Yea, thy law is within my heart.
9 I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great assembly;
Lo, I will not refrain my lips,
O Jehovah, thou knowest.
10 I 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 assembly.
11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Jehovah;
Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about;
Mine iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
And my heart hath [g]failed me.
13 Be pleased, O Jehovah, to deliver me:
Make haste to help me, O Jehovah.
14 Let them be put to shame and confounded together
That seek after my soul to destroy it:
Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor
That delight in my hurt.
15 Let them be [h]desolate [i]by reason of their shame
That say unto me, Aha, aha.
16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee:
Let such as love thy salvation say continually,
Jehovah be magnified.
17 But I am poor and needy;
Yet the Lord thinketh upon me:
Thou art my help and my deliverer;
Make no tarrying, O my God.
The psalmist in sickness complains of enemies and false friends.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
41 Blessed is he that considereth [j]the poor:
Jehovah will deliver him in the day of evil.
2 Jehovah will preserve him, and keep him alive,
And he shall be blessed [k]upon the earth;
And deliver not thou him unto the will of his enemies.
3 Jehovah will support him upon the couch of languishing:
Thou [l]makest all his bed in his sickness.
4 I said, O Jehovah, have mercy upon me:
Heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
5 Mine enemies speak evil against me, saying,
When will he die, and his name perish?
6 And if he come to see me, he speaketh falsehood;
His heart gathereth iniquity to itself:
When he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
7 All that hate me whisper together against me;
Against me do they devise my hurt.
8 [m]An evil disease, say they, [n]cleaveth fast unto him;
And now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.
9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,
Who did eat of my bread,
Hath lifted up his heel against me.
10 But thou, O Jehovah, have mercy upon me, and raise me up,
That I may requite them.
11 By this I know that thou delightest in me,
Because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.
12 And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity,
And settest me before thy face for ever.
13 Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel,
From everlasting and to everlasting.
Amen, and Amen.
Book II
Thirsting for God in trouble and exile.
For the Chief Musician. Maschil of the sons of Korah.
42 As the hart panteth after the water brooks,
So panteth my soul after thee, O God.
2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:
When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
While they [o]continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
4 These things I remember, and pour out my soul [p]within me,
How I went with the throng, and [q]led them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping holyday.
5 Why art thou [r]cast down, O my soul?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him
For the help of his countenance.
6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me:
Therefore do I remember thee from the land of the Jordan,
And the Hermons, from [s]the hill Mizar.
7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterfalls:
All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
8 Yet Jehovah will command his lovingkindness in the day-time;
And in the night his song shall be with me,
Even a prayer unto the God of my life.
9 I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me?
Why go I mourning [t]because of the oppression of the enemy?
10 As with [u]a sword in my bones, mine adversaries reproach me,
While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
And why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him,
Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
Footnotes
- Psalm 40:2 Hebrew a pit of tumult (or destruction).
- Psalm 40:4 Or, fall away treacherously
- Psalm 40:5 Or, There is none to be compared unto thee
- Psalm 40:6 Or, meal-offering
- Psalm 40:6 Hebrew Ears hast thou digged (or, pierced) for me.
- Psalm 40:7 Or, prescribed to
- Psalm 40:12 Hebrew forsaken.
- Psalm 40:15 Or, astonished
- Psalm 40:15 Or, for a reward of
- Psalm 41:1 Or, the weak
- Psalm 41:2 Or, in the land
- Psalm 41:3 Hebrew turnest, or, changest.
- Psalm 41:8 Or, Some wicked thing
- Psalm 41:8 Or, is poured out upon him
- Psalm 42:3 Hebrew all the day.
- Psalm 42:4 Hebrew upon.
- Psalm 42:4 Or, went in procession with them
- Psalm 42:5 Hebrew bowed down.
- Psalm 42:6 Or, the little mountain
- Psalm 42:9 Or, while the enemy oppresseth
- Psalm 42:10 Or, crushing
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