Psalms · Catholic Public Domain Version
Psalm 39 (40) Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · Psalm 40 · About the recordings
Notes on this text (4)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
- Psalms follow the Greek/Latin numbering, with the psalm titles counted as verse 1 (as in the Vulgate).
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
Psalm 39 in CPDV = Psalm 40 in WEB.
1 Unto the end. A Psalm of David himself.
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2 I have waited expectantly for the Lord, and he was attentive to me.
40:1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. I waited patiently for Yahweh. He turned to me, and heard my cry.
3 And he heard my prayers and he led me out of the pit of misery and the quagmire. And he stationed my feet upon a rock, and he directed my steps.
40:2 He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.
4 And he sent a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God. Many will see, and they will fear; and they will hope in the Lord.
40:3 He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in Yahweh.
5 Blessed is the man whose hope is in the name of the Lord, and who has no respect for vanities and absurd falsehoods.
40:4 Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust, and doesn’t respect the proud, nor such as turn away to lies.
6 You have accomplished your many wonders, O Lord my God, and there is no one similar to you in your thoughts. I have announced and I have spoken: they are multiplied beyond number.
40:5 Many, Yahweh, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us. They can’t be declared back to you. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be counted.
7◆ Sacrifice and oblation, you did not want. But you have perfected ears for me. Holocaust and sin offering, you did not require.
40:6 Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
8 Then I said, “Behold, I draw near.” At the head of the book, it has been written of me:
40:7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come. It is written about me in the book in the scroll.
9 that I should do your will. My God, I have willed it. And your law is in the midst of my heart.
40:8 I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart.”
10 I have announced your justice in a great Church: behold, I will not restrain my lips. O Lord, you have known it.
40:9 I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly. Behold, I will not seal my lips, Yahweh, you know.
11 I have not concealed your justice within my heart. I have spoken your truth and your salvation. I have not concealed your mercy and your truth from a great assembly.
40:10 I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart. I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the great assembly.
12 O Lord, do not take your tender mercies far from me. Your mercy and your truth ever sustain me.
40:11 Don’t withhold your tender mercies from me, Yahweh. Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.
13 For evils without number have surrounded me. My iniquities have taken hold of me, and I was not able to see. They have been multiplied beyond the hairs of my head. And my heart has forsaken me.
40:12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head. My heart has failed me.
14 Be pleased, O Lord, to rescue me. Look down, O Lord, to help me.
40:13 Be pleased, Yahweh, to deliver me. Hurry to help me, Yahweh.
15 Let them together be confounded and awed, who seek after my soul to steal it away. Let them be turned back and be in awe, who wish evils upon me.
40:14 Let them be disappointed and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt.
16 Let them bear their confusion all at once, who say to me, “Well, well.”
40:15 Let them be desolate by reason of their shame that tell me, “Aha! Aha!”
17 Let all who seek you exult and rejoice over you. And let those who love your salvation always say, “May the Lord be magnified.”
40:16 Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let such as love your salvation say continually, “Let Yahweh be exalted!”
18 But I am a beggar and poor. The Lord has been concerned about me. You are my helper and my protector. My God, do not delay.
40:17 But I am poor and needy. May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Don’t delay, my God.
Cross references (18)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info. References use English (Hebrew-based) verse numbers; links open the passage in CPDV.
- 1 Psalm 27:13–14; Psalm 37:7; James 5:7–11; Psalm 34:15; Psalm 116:2
- 2 Psalm 27:13–14; Psalm 37:7; James 5:7–11; Psalm 34:15; Psalm 116:2
- 3 Psalm 37:23; Psalm 119:133; Psalm 27:5; Psalm 61:2; Matthew 7:24–25
- 4 Psalm 33:3; Psalm 103:1–5; Psalm 34:1–6; Psalm 52:6; Psalm 144:9
- 5 Jeremiah 17:7–8; Psalm 84:11–12; Psalm 34:8; Psalm 125:5; Psalm 118:8–9
- 6 Jeremiah 29:11; Exodus 15:11; Psalm 139:17–18; Psalm 71:15; Psalm 92:5
- 7 Hebrews 10:5–12; Isaiah 1:11; 1 Samuel 15:22; Psalm 51:16; Hosea 6:6
- 8 Hebrews 10:7–9; Luke 24:44; John 5:39; Luke 24:27; 1 Corinthians 15:3–4
- 9 Romans 7:22; John 4:34; Jeremiah 15:16; Psalm 119:16; Psalm 119:24
- 10 Psalm 22:25; Mark 16:15–16; Psalm 71:15–18; Psalm 22:22; Hebrews 2:12
- 11 Romans 1:16–17; Acts 20:20–21; 1 Timothy 1:15; Romans 10:9–10; Luke 2:30–32
- 12 Psalm 23:6; Psalm 43:3; Psalm 57:3; Proverbs 20:28; Psalm 69:16
- 13 Psalm 38:4; Psalm 73:26; Psalm 69:4; Isaiah 53:6; Psalm 116:3
- 14 Psalm 38:22; Psalm 25:17–18; Psalm 70:1–5; Psalm 22:19; Psalm 71:12
- 15 Psalm 35:4; Psalm 35:26; John 18:6; Isaiah 45:24; Psalm 9:3
- 16 Psalm 35:25; Psalm 35:21; Psalm 69:24–25; Luke 19:43–44; Psalm 70:3–4
- 17 Psalm 35:27; Psalm 68:3; Psalm 119:123; Acts 19:17; Isaiah 65:13–14
- 18 Psalm 70:5; Hebrews 13:6; Isaiah 41:17; Psalm 34:6; 1 Peter 5:7
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
Why does my Bible say something different?
- Psalm 40:6 and Hebrews 10:5: “ears” or “a body”?
In the Hebrew text of Psalm 40 God has “dug” or “opened” the psalmist’s ears. In the Greek Septuagint (Psalm 39:7) God has “prepared a body” for him, and the Epistle to the Hebrews quotes that Greek wording of Christ coming into the world. The Orthodox Church reads the Greek. Scholars still debate how the Greek reading arose.
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations). Verse numbers below follow the Hebrew/English numbering: 40.
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Behold, a ready obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." David also says: "Sacrifice and oblation Thou didst not desire, but mine ears hast Thou perfected; burnt-offerings also for sin Thou hast not required." He thus teaches them that God desires obedience, which renders them secure, rather than sacrifices and holocausts, which avail them …
… but on account of that which is to be after death, I shall do well to commence my disputation with the truthful oracle of the holy psalm, "Blessed is the man whose hope is the Lord God, and who respecteth not vanities and lying follies." Nevertheless, in all vanities and lying follies the philosophers are to be listened to with …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… of God: I have trusted in the mercy of God." But let him not seek the empty honors of a famous name upon earth, for "Blessed is the man that maketh the name of the Lord his trust, and respecteth not vanities nor lying follies." After having presented the two cities, the one founded in the material good of this …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… were slain as a shadow of that which was to come; wherefore also we recognize the voice in the 40th Psalm as that of the same Mediator speaking through prophesy, "Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; but a body hast Thou perfected for me." Because, instead of all these sacrifices and oblations, His body is offered, and is served …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)