Psalms 40King James Version
I waited patiently for the Lord. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened. Then said I, Lo, I come. Quoted in Hebrews 10 as the voice of Christ.
A psalm of two halves. The first is pure rescue narrative: David waited patiently, God lifted him from a horrible pit, set his feet on a rock, put a new song in his mouth. Many saw and trusted. Then a declaration that God desires obedience over sacrifice: 'mine ears hast thou opened,' in the volume of the book it is written of me. Then the second half plunges back into crisis: innumerable evils, sins over his head, urgent plea. The praise and the lament coexist.
The person who has been rescued from one pit may be standing at the edge of the next one, and the testimony of the first rescue is the ground for the second petition.
verse: "I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry." The past tense rescue is the foundation for the present tense trust.
Superscription: 'To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.' The 'horrible pit' and 'miry clay' (v2) are either metaphorical (death, depression) or literal imprisonment. The psalm's second half (vv12-17) is nearly identical to Psalm 70, suggesting one was derived from the other or both share a common liturgical source.
David as the one rescued from the pit; God as the one who inclined, heard, and lifted; the many who saw and trusted; the enemies who seek David's soul; the poor and needy David who closes the psalm.
Hebrews 10:5-7 quotes Psalm 40:6-8 ('sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire... Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me') as Christ's words on entering the world, applied to his incarnation. The LXX reading of v6 ('a body hast thou prepared me') is taken over verbatim in Hebrews. The psalm thus occupies a crucial christological position.
For when you have already been through one impossible thing and now there is another. The first deliverance is not mocked by the second crisis; it is the premise of the next prayer.
1[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.] I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2He 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.
3And 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.
4Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5Many, 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.
6Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
7Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
8I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
9I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
10I 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.
11Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
12For 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.
13Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
14Let 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.
15Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.
16Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.
17But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.