Psalm 40:1-8

Easy-to-Read Version

To the director: A song of David.

40 I called^[a] to the Lord, and he heard me.
    He heard my cries.
²He lifted me out of the grave.^[b]
    He lifted me from that muddy place.^[c]
He picked me up, put me on solid ground,
    and kept my feet from slipping.
³He put a new song^[d] in my mouth,
    a song of praise to our God.
Many will see what he did and worship him.
    They will put their trust in the Lord.
⁴Great blessings belong to those who trust in the Lord,
    for those who do not turn to demons and false gods^[e] for help.
⁵Lord my God, you have done many amazing things!
    You have made great plans for us—too many to list.
I could talk on and on about them,
    because there are too many to count.

⁶Lord, you made me understand this:^[f]
    You don’t really want sacrifices and grain offerings.
    You don’t want burnt offerings and sin offerings.
⁷So I said, “Here I am,
    ready to do what was written about me in the book.
⁸My God, I am happy to do whatever you want.
    I never stop thinking about your teachings.”

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Footnotes

Psalm 40:1 called Or “waited patiently.”
Psalm 40:2 grave Literally, “pit of destruction.” That is, “Sheol,” the place of death.
Psalm 40:2 muddy place In many ancient stories, Sheol, the place of death, is a dark place with mud all around, like a grave.
Psalm 40:3 new song Whenever God did a new and wonderful thing for his people, they would write a new song about it.
Psalm 40:4 demons and false gods Or “proud and deceptive people.”
Psalm 40:6 you made … this Literally, “you have dug my ears.” The ancient Greek version has “you prepared a body for me.”