About this song
About this song
This song belongs to the Psalms collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.
- Collection
- Psalms
I waited, and kept waiting, for the Lord,
And He leaned down to me and heard me calling.
He brought me up out of a pit that was going nowhere,
Out of mud that would not let go,
And set my feet on rock
And made my walking steady.
He put a new song in my mouth,
Praise belonging to our God.
Plenty of people will see it and be brought up short
And put their weight on the Lord.
It goes well for the man who makes the Lord the one he trusts,
Who does not turn to the proud
Or to people who go off after lies.
Lord my God, there is so much You have done,
And so much You have had in mind toward us,
That nobody could set it out in order.
If I tried to tell it and say it all
There would be more than anyone could count.
You did not want sacrifice and offering;
You opened my ears instead.
You did not ask for things burned on an altar.
So I said, Here I am. I have come.
It is written about me in the roll of the book.
Doing what You want is what I enjoy, my God;
What You teach is down inside me.
I have talked about what is right in front of the whole gathering.
I did not keep my lips shut, Lord, and You know it.
I did not hide what is right in You inside my own heart.
I said out loud that You keep faith and that You save.
I did not keep Your kindness and Your truth back
From the people gathered there.
Do not hold Your tenderness back from me, Lord;
Let Your kindness and Your truth keep watch over me,
Because more trouble has closed round me than I can count,
And what I have done wrong has caught up with me
Until I cannot lift my head.
Be willing, Lord, to get me out.
I am poor and I have nothing,
But the Lord is thinking about me.
You are my help and the one who gets me free.
My God, do not take long.
About the passage
Psalms 40: A new song and a new cry for help
Psalm 40 refuses to let past deliverance cancel present need. The Book of Psalms begins with patient waiting answered by rescue from miry clay, firm footing on a rock, established steps, and a new song that directs others toward trust in the Lord. The middle of the psalm turns from sacrifice to willing obedience: opened ears, delight in God's will, and law within the heart. That inward reception becomes public declaration in the great congregation, where righteousness, faithfulness, salvation, lovingkindness, and truth are not concealed. Then the speaker is suddenly surrounded again, this time by innumerable evils and his own iniquities. The same divine qualities he proclaimed must now preserve him personally. The closing prayer sounds like a return to the beginning, but with urgency rather than recollection. The rescued person is poor and needy again. Remembered help becomes the reason to ask for help once more.
Study Psalms 40 in depth →