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Psalm 40

Psalm 40 joins thanks for God’s past rescue with willing obedience and an urgent plea for help amid fresh distress.

David recalls crying to YHWH and being lifted from a pit onto firm ground. His rescue becomes a song of praise before the gathered people. He speaks of God’s countless works and his own desire to do God’s will, with God’s law in his heart. Then the psalm turns toward present distress: sins overwhelm him, enemies seek his ruin, and he pleads for help. The heading names David, but no specific occasion is given.

waitinganswered prayerguilt and confession
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1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. I waited patiently for the LORD. He turned to me, and heard my cry.
2He 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.
3He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
4Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, and doesn’t respect the proud, nor such as turn away to lies.
5Many, LORD, 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.
6Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
7Then I said, “Behold, I have come. It is written about me in the book in the scroll.
8I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart.”
9I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly. Behold, I will not seal my lips, LORD, you know.
10I 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.
11Don’t withhold your tender mercies from me, LORD. Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.
12For 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.
13Be pleased, LORD, to deliver me. Hurry to help me, LORD.
15Let them be desolate by reason of their shame that tell me, “Aha! Aha!”
16Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let such as love your salvation say continually, “Let the LORD be exalted!”
17But I am poor and needy. May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Don’t delay, my God.
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Key verses
Psalm 40:1David begins with remembered waiting and an answered cry, establishing the trust from which his later plea rises.
Psalm 40:5God’s works and thoughts toward his people exceed counting, widening David’s praise beyond his own rescue.
Psalm 40:8Delight in God’s will and his law within the heart explain the obedience described alongside the discussion of sacrifice.
Where this chapter reaches

Hebrews quotes Psalm 40’s words about sacrifice and doing God’s will, applying them to Christ’s obedient coming and the offering of his body. Jeremiah shares the theme of God’s law within the heart, placing it within God’s promise of a new covenant.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about David’s trust when his song of rescue turns into a plea for help?

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How does David’s delight in God’s will shape your understanding of the sacrifices mentioned before it?

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Questions people ask about Psalm 40

What does the pit mean in Psalm 40?

The pit and miry clay portray danger and helplessness, while the rock portrays secure footing after God’s rescue. David does not identify a specific event behind these images. The psalm later names overwhelming sins and hostile people, but it leaves the circumstances of the earlier rescue unstated.

Why does Psalm 40 say God did not desire sacrifice?

Verses 6–8 place sacrifice beside opened ears, delight in God’s will, and his law within the heart. The emphasis falls on responsive obedience; the passage does not explain the whole sacrificial system. Hebrews quotes these verses in relation to Christ, whose obedience and bodily offering fulfill God’s will.

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What the Bible says about patience →What the Bible says about guilt →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).