1 To the chief musician; a psalm of David.
2 Waiting I waited for Jehovah, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry.
3 And he brought me up from a pit of noise, from the miry clay, and set my feet on a rock; he fixed my steps.
4 And he put in my mouth a new song, praise to our God: many shall see and fear, and trust in Jehovah.
5 Blessed the man who hath made Jehovah his trust, and hath not turned round to the proud and those who swerve to falsehood.
6 Great things hast thou done, O Jehovah my God; thy wonderful deeds and thy thoughts to us none can set in order to thee: I would declare and speak—they are too many to be numbered.
7 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears didst thou dig; burnt-offering and sin-offering thou didst not ask.
8 Then I said, Behold, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me:
9 To do thy will, my God, I delight; and thy law [is] in the midst of my bowels.
10 I have announced righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I will not refrain my lips; O Jehovah, thou hast known.
11 Thy righteousness I hid not in the midst of my heart; thy faithfulness and thy salvation I declared; I concealed not thy mercy and thy truth from the great congregation.
12 Thou, O Jehovah, wilt not withhold thy com passion from me; thy mercy and thy truth will always preserve me.
13 For evils till there is no number have encompassed me; mine iniquities have overtaken me, and I have not been able to see; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath left me.
14 Be pleased, O Jehovah, to deliver me; O Jehovah, make haste to my help.
15 They shall be ashamed and confounded together that seek my soul to destroy it; driven back and disgraced shall they be that wish my hurt.
16 They shall be desolate as a reward for their shame that say to me, Aha, aha.
17 Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; let those that love thy salvation say always, Jehovah be magnified.
18 But I poor and needy—the Lord considereth me. My help and deliverer [art] thou; O my God, delay not.
Notes on Psalm 40
Christ chaunts His deliverance in connection with Israel and the earth. Hence 40 is more mixed with judgment at the close than we hear in Psalm 22. But His coming as incarnate to do God’s will, in the setting aside of the sacrificial system by His own obedience unto death, is as plain as all-important.
“To the chief musician: a psalm of David.” No one ever waited for Jehovah as Christ did, the eternal Son become His servant on the earth. In the roll of the book it was written of Him: He was the object of God’s counsels before He became man. But it was His one aim too. Here the ears “dug” express His incarnation, as “opened” (Isa. 50.) His daily dependence, and “bored” (Exod. 21.) His devotedness in death and forever. He more than makes good all the offerings; His delight was to do God’s will. He preached righteousness not to the little flock only, but to the great congregation, if it seemed ever so vain; and their iniquities He took on Him (Isa. 53:1111He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11)), the true and effectual sin-bearer. Who like Him poor and needy, yet to be “very high?”