For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by Dawud1.
1I waited patiently for YAHWEH2.
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 YAHWEH.
4Blessed is the man who makes YAHWEH his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5Many, YAHWEH, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done,
And your thoughts which are toward us.
They cannot be set in order to you;
If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
6Sacrifice and offering you did not desire.
But you opened my ears:
Burnt offering and sin offering you did not require.
7Then I said, “Behold, I have come.
In the scroll of Al-Kitab3 it is written about me.
8I delight to do your will, my God.4
Yes, your Taurat5 is within my heart.”
9I have proclaimed the Injil6 of righteousness in the great assembly.
Behold, I will not seal my lips, YAHWEH, 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.
11Do not withhold your tender mercies from me, YAHWEH.
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, YAHWEH, to deliver me.
Hurry to help me, YAHWEH.
14Let them be disappointed and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it.
Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonour who delight in my hurt.
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 YAHWEH be exalted!”
17But I am poor and needy;
May the Lord think about me.
You are my help and my deliverer.
Do not delay, my God.
- 40:title Dawud, this Arabic name is derived from David (Hebrew) and means “Beloved.” ↩︎
- 40:1 YAHWEH, God’s personal Name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15: ‘God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”’ ↩︎
- 40:7 Al-Kitab, is an Arabic-derived term for “the Scriptures.” It is related to the Aramaic ketab and Hebrew terms ketab, miktab, and ktb. The related Hebrew verb katub is used in this verse for “is written.” The Hebrew text behind Al-Kitab in this verse is seper, meaning “the book.” ↩︎
- 40:6-8 Quoted in the Injil, Hebrews 10:4-10, which says, “For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats can take away sins. Therefore when AL-MASIH comes into the world, he says, ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you had no pleasure. Then I said, “Behold, I have come – in the scroll of Al-Kitab it is written of me – to do your will, O God.“‘ First he says, ‘Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, neither had pleasure in them‘ (those which are offered in accordance with the Taurat). Then he says, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will.’ He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, by which ‘will‘ we have been cleansed through the offering of the body of ‘ISA AL-MASIH once for all.” ↩︎
- 40:8 Taurat, this Arabic term is derived from the Hebrew word Torah, which means “instruction” or “teaching.” Depending on context, Taurat can refer to,
1. The whole Hebrew Bible contained here under the title Taurat, equivalent to what Jews today call Tanakh, and what Christians call the Old Testament.
2. The revelation given to Prophet Musa, that is, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes called the Pentateuch. Pentateuch is a Greek word meaning “five books” and includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These five books are attributed to Prophet Musa himself. This is the traditional and most common meaning given to Taurat or Torah.
3. The Law of Musa found within the Pentateuch, with its hundreds of rules and regulations covering many aspects of daily life for the people of Israel. The most famous of these laws are the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20.
4. Taurat can also refer to divine instruction and teaching in general without reference to a particular book of the Hebrew Bible. ↩︎ - 40:9 I have proclaimed the Injil, the Hebrew word bsr here means, I have brought good news, and is the equivalent of the verb form of Euangel (Greek), from which the Arabic word Injil is derived. Depending on context, Injil can refer to,
1. the whole Christian New Testament containing 27 books,
2. the first 4 books of the New Testament, that is, the Injil according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, or,
3. the message or “good news” of forgiveness of sins through ‘ISA AL-MASIH, revealed in the holy Injil (or New Testament). In this verse, it is the good news “of righteousness” or the message explaining how to be right with God. The words of this psalm are prophetic, predicting centuries in advance the coming of Prophet ‘ISA with the message of the Injil. ↩︎