Psalms · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
Psalm 40 King James Version (with Apocrypha)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (2)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
- Psalm titles are printed as the start of verse 1.
1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. I waited patiently for Yahweh. He turned to me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, [and] established my goings.
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.
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 the LORD.
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.
4 Blessed [is] that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
4 Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust, and doesn’t respect the proud, nor such as turn away to lies.
5 Many, O LORD my God, [are] thy wonderful works [which] thou hast done, and thy thoughts [which are] to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: [if] I would declare and speak [of them], they are more than can be numbered.
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.
6◆ Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
6 Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book [it is] written of me,
7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come. It is written about me in the book in the scroll.
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law [is] within my heart.
8 I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart.”
9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
9 I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly. Behold, I will not seal my lips, Yahweh, you know.
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 congregation.
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.
11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
11 Don’t withhold your tender mercies from me, Yahweh. Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.
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.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
13 Be pleased, Yahweh, to deliver me. Hurry to help me, Yahweh.
14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
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.
15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.
15 Let them be desolate by reason of their shame that tell me, “Aha! Aha!”
16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.
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!”
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.
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 (17)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Psalm 27:13–14; Psalm 37:7; James 5:7–11; Psalm 34:15; Psalm 116:2
- 2 Psalm 37:23; Psalm 119:133; Psalm 27:5; Psalm 61:2; Matthew 7:24–25
- 3 Psalm 33:3; Psalm 103:1–5; Psalm 34:1–6; Psalm 52:6; Psalm 144:9
- 4 Jeremiah 17:7–8; Psalm 84:11–12; Psalm 34:8; Psalm 125:5; Psalm 118:8–9
- 5 Jeremiah 29:11; Exodus 15:11; Psalm 139:17–18; Psalm 71:15; Psalm 92:5
- 6 Hebrews 10:5–12; Isaiah 1:11; 1 Samuel 15:22; Psalm 51:16; Hosea 6:6
- 7 Hebrews 10:7–9; Luke 24:44; John 5:39; Luke 24:27; 1 Corinthians 15:3–4
- 8 Romans 7:22; John 4:34; Jeremiah 15:16; Psalm 119:16; Psalm 119:24
- 9 Psalm 22:25; Mark 16:15–16; Psalm 71:15–18; Psalm 22:22; Hebrews 2:12
- 10 Romans 1:16–17; Acts 20:20–21; 1 Timothy 1:15; Romans 10:9–10; Luke 2:30–32
- 11 Psalm 23:6; Psalm 43:3; Psalm 57:3; Proverbs 20:28; Psalm 69:16
- 12 Psalm 38:4; Psalm 73:26; Psalm 69:4; Isaiah 53:6; Psalm 116:3
- 13 Psalm 38:22; Psalm 25:17–18; Psalm 70:1–5; Psalm 22:19; Psalm 71:12
- 14 Psalm 35:4; Psalm 35:26; John 18:6; Isaiah 45:24; Psalm 9:3
- 15 Psalm 35:25; Psalm 35:21; Psalm 69:24–25; Luke 19:43–44; Psalm 70:3–4
- 16 Psalm 35:27; Psalm 68:3; Psalm 119:123; Acts 19:17; Isaiah 65:13–14
- 17 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).
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)