Psalm 40-42

Amplified Bible

God Sustains His Servant.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

40 I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
²
He brought me up out of a horrible pit [of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock, steadying my footsteps and establishing my path.
³
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear [with great reverence]
And will trust confidently in the Lord.^(A)

⁴
Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not regard the proud nor those who lapse into lies.
⁵
Many, O Lord my God, are the wonderful works which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of your wonders,
They would be too many to count.

⁶
Sacrifice and meal offering You do not desire, nor do You delight in them;
You have opened my ears and given me the capacity to hear [and obey Your word];
Burnt offerings and sin offerings You do not require.^(B)
⁷
Then I said, “Behold, I come [to the throne];
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
⁸
“I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your law is within my heart.”^(C)

⁹
I have proclaimed good news of righteousness [and the joy that comes from obedience to You] in the great assembly;
Behold, I will not restrain my lips [from proclaiming Your righteousness],
As You know, O Lord.
¹⁰
I have not concealed Your righteousness within my heart;
I have proclaimed Your faithfulness and Your salvation.
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.^(D)

¹¹
Do not withhold Your compassion and tender mercy from me, O Lord;
Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.
¹²
For innumerable evils have encompassed me;
My sins have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see.
They are more numerous than the hairs of my head,
And my heart has failed me.

¹³
Be pleased, O Lord, to save me;
O Lord, make haste to help me.
¹⁴
Let those be ashamed and humiliated together
Who seek my life to destroy it;
Let those be turned back [in defeat] and dishonored
Who delight in my hurt.
¹⁵
Let those be appalled and desolate because of their shame
Who say to me, “Aha, aha [rejoicing in my misfortune]!”
¹⁶
Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
¹⁷
Even though I am afflicted and needy,
Still the Lord takes thought and is mindful of me.
You are my help and my rescuer.
O my God, do not delay.^(E)

The Psalmist in Sickness Complains of Enemies and False Friends.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

41 Blessed [by God’s grace and compassion] is he who considers the helpless;
The Lord will save him in the day of trouble.
²
The Lord will protect him and keep him alive;
And he will be called blessed in the land;
You do not hand him over to the desire of his enemies.
³
The Lord will sustain and strengthen him on his sickbed;
In his illness, You will restore him to health.

⁴
As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
⁵
My enemies speak evil of me, saying,
“When will he die and his name perish?”
⁶
And when one comes to see me, he speaks empty words,
While his heart gathers malicious gossip [against me];
When he goes away, he tells it [everywhere].
⁷
All who hate me whisper together about me;
Against me they devise my hurt [imagining the worst for me], saying,
⁸
“A wicked thing is poured out upon him and holds him;
And when he lies down, he will not rise up again.”
⁹
Even my own close friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me [betraying me].^(F)

¹⁰
But You, O Lord, be gracious to me and ^[a]restore me [to health],
So that I may repay them.
¹¹
By this I know that You favor and delight in me,
Because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.
¹²
As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And You set me in Your presence forever.

¹³
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting [from this age to the next, and forever].
Amen and Amen (so be it).

Book Two

Thirsting for God in Trouble and Exile.

To the Chief Musician. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of the sons of Korah.

42 As the deer pants [longingly] for the water brooks,
So my ^[b]soul pants [longingly] for You, O God.
²
My soul (my life, my inner self) thirsts for God, for the living God.
When will I come and see the face of God?^(G)
³
My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
⁴
These things I [vividly] remember as I pour out my soul;
How I used to go along before the great crowd of people and lead them in procession to the house of God [like a choirmaster before his singers, timing the steps to the music and the chant of the song],
With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a great crowd keeping a festival.

⁵
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become restless and disturbed within me?
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.
⁶
O my God, my soul is in despair within me [the burden more than I can bear];
Therefore I will [fervently] remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the peaks of [Mount] Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
⁷
Deep calls to deep at the [thundering] sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
⁸
Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song will be with me,
A prayer to the God of my life.

⁹
I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
¹⁰
As a crushing of my bones [with a sword], my adversaries taunt me,
While they say continually to me, “Where is your God?”
¹¹
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
Why have you become restless and disquieted within me?
Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him,
The ^[c]help of my countenance and my God.

Footnotes

Psalm 41:10 Lit raise me up.
Psalm 42:1 The Hebrew word translated “soul” in this psalm and elsewhere in the book of Psalms is nephesh. This word usually refers to a person’s “life” or “self,” but can also mean “throat,” as perhaps in vv 1, 2.
Psalm 42:11 Or saving acts of.