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Psalm 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.
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.
Notice
The move from miry clay to a rock captures the relief of having ground beneath your feet again, with God named as the rescuer.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
Where does the picture of miry clay fit what you are facing?
Write on thisWhat past help from God comes to mind as you read about firm footing?
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Where else Scripture says this
11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 37:23A man’s steps are established by the LORD. He delights in his way.Both passages credit the LORD with establishing a person’s footing, using feet or steps to describe his sustaining work.
Psalm 27:5For in the day of trouble, he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the secret place of his tabernacle, he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock.Both passages describe God lifting someone onto a rock, a place of safety beyond the trouble below.
Psalm 119:133Establish my footsteps in your word. Don’t let any iniquity have dominion over me.Psalm 40 recounts God making feet firm; Psalm 119 asks him to establish footsteps in his word.
Psalm 61:2From the end of the earth, I will call to you when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.The rock is a place reached through God’s help in both passages, whether remembered after rescue or sought while overwhelmed.
Matthew 7:24–25“Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.Both use rock as firm support; Jesus describes hearing and doing his words, while the psalm recounts God’s rescue.
Jonah 2:5–6The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head.Miry clay and entangling weeds depict engulfing danger; the supplied Jonah verse describes distress without yet recounting rescue.
Zechariah 9:11As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.Both passages describe release from a pit through God’s action; Zechariah names prisoners freed because of covenant blood.
Acts 2:24whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.Both describe God freeing someone from peril: the psalm names a pit, while Acts names Jesus being raised from death.
Proverbs 4:26Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established.Both speak of feet and established footing; the psalm credits God’s action, while Proverbs instructs the reader to make the path level.
Jeremiah 38:6–12Then they took Jeremiah and threw him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard. They let down Jeremiah with cords. In …Mire depicts peril in the psalm; Jeremiah’s account describes him sinking in mire after being thrown into a dungeon.
Isaiah 38:17Behold, for peace I had great anguish, but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for you have cast all my sins behind your back.Both speakers credit God with deliverance from a pit, remembering the distress from which he brought them.
Where this verse fits
Answered prayer. gratitude.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The pit is part of David’s testimony; he does not hide how bad it was. His feet stand firm because God has brought him out and set them on rock.
Now put it in your words.
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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).