Psalm 40-42

Complete Jewish Bible

40 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. A psalm of David:

²⁽¹⁾I waited patiently for Adonai,
till he turned toward me and heard my cry.
³⁽²⁾He brought me up from the roaring pit,
up from the muddy ooze,
and set my feet on a rock,
making my footing firm.
⁴⁽³⁾He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will look on in awe
and put their trust in Adonai.

⁵⁽⁴⁾How blessed the man who trusts in Adonai
and does not look to the arrogant
or to those who rely on things that are false.

⁶⁽⁵⁾How much you have done, Adonai my God!
Your wonders and your thoughts toward us —
none can compare with you!
I would proclaim them, I would speak about them;
but there’s too much to tell!

⁷⁽⁶⁾Sacrifices and grain offerings you don’t want;
burnt offerings and sin offerings you don’t demand.
Instead, you have given me open ears;
⁸⁽⁷⁾so then I said, “Here I am! I’m coming!
In the scroll of a book it is written about me.
⁹⁽⁸⁾Doing your will, my God, is my joy;
your Torah is in my inmost being.
¹⁰⁽⁹⁾I have proclaimed what is right in the great assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, Adonai, as you know.
¹¹⁽¹⁰⁾I did not hide your righteousness in my heart
but declared your faithfulness and salvation;
I did not conceal your grace and truth
from the great assembly.”

¹²⁽¹¹⁾Adonai, don’t withhold your mercy from me.
Let your grace and truth preserve me always.
¹³⁽¹²⁾For numberless evils surround me;
my iniquities engulf me — I can’t even see;
there are more of them than hairs on my head,
so that my courage fails me.
¹⁴⁽¹³⁾Be pleased, Adonai, to rescue me!
Adonai, hurry and help me!
¹⁵⁽¹⁴⁾May those who seek to sweep me away
be disgraced and humiliated together.
May those who take pleasure in doing me harm
be turned back and put to confusion.
¹⁶⁽¹⁵⁾May those who jeer at me, “Aha! Aha!”
be aghast because of their shame.

¹⁷⁽¹⁶⁾But may all those who seek you
be glad and take joy in you.
May those who love your salvation say always,
“Adonai is great and glorious!”

¹⁸⁽¹⁷⁾But I am poor and needy;
may Adonai think of me.
You are my helper and rescuer;
my God, don’t delay!

41 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. A psalm of David:

²⁽¹⁾How blessed are those who care for the poor!
When calamity comes, Adonai will save them.
³⁽²⁾Adonai will preserve them, keep them alive,
and make them happy in the land.
You will not hand them over
to the whims of their enemies.
⁴⁽³⁾Adonai sustains them on their sickbed;
when they lie ill, you make them recover.
⁵⁽⁴⁾I said, “Adonai, have pity on me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you!”
⁶⁽⁵⁾My enemies say the worst about me:
“When will he die and his name disappear?”
⁷⁽⁶⁾When they come to see me they speak insincerely,
their hearts meanwhile gathering falsehoods;
then they go out and spread bad reports.
⁸⁽⁷⁾All who hate me whisper together against me,
imagining the worst about me.
⁹⁽⁸⁾“A fatal disease has attached itself to him;
now that he lies ill, he will never get up.”
¹⁰⁽⁹⁾Even my close friend, on whom I relied,
who shared my table, has turned against me.

¹¹⁽¹⁰⁾But you, Adonai, have pity on me,
put me on my feet, so I can pay them back.
¹²⁽¹¹⁾I will know you are pleased with me
if my enemy doesn’t defeat me.
¹³⁽¹²⁾You uphold me because of my innocence
you establish me in your presence forever.

¹⁴⁽¹³⁾Blessed be Adonai the God of Isra’el
from eternity past to eternity future.

Amen. Amen.

Book II: Psalms 42–72

42 ⁽⁰⁾For the leader. A maskil of the descendants of Korach:

²⁽¹⁾Just as a deer longs for running streams,
God, I long for you.
³⁽²⁾I am thirsty for God, for the living God!
When can I come and appear before God?

⁴⁽³⁾My tears are my food, day and night,
while all day people ask me, “Where is your God?”
⁵⁽⁴⁾I recall, as my feelings well up within me,
how I’d go with the crowd to the house of God,
with sounds of joy and praise from the throngs
observing the festival.

⁶⁽⁵⁾My soul, why are you so downcast?
Why are you groaning inside me?
Hope in God, since I will praise him again
for the salvation that comes from his presence.
⁷⁽⁶⁾My God, when I feel so downcast,
I remind myself of you
from the land of Yarden, from the peaks of Hermon,
from the hill Mizar.
⁸⁽⁷⁾Deep is calling to deep
at the thunder of your waterfalls;
all your surging rapids and waves
are sweeping over me.
⁹⁽⁸⁾By day Adonai commands his grace,
and at night his song is with me
as a prayer to the God of my life.
¹⁰⁽⁹⁾I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
under pressure by the enemy?
¹¹⁽¹⁰⁾My adversaries’ taunts make me feel
as if my bones were crushed,
as they ask me all day long,
‘Where is your God?’ ”