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Psalm 40 Bible study: I delight to do your will

In Hebrew, didn’t desire (40:6) and I delight (40:8) are one verb: what God didn't desire is set beside what the speaker delights to do. And Hebrews gives these lines to the one who "comes into the world" (Hebrews 10:5), with a body where the psalm has ears, and names him: "Jesus Christ" (Hebrews 10:10).

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“I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart.”
Psalm 40:8 · World English Bible

Try it · Did you catch it?

“Where Psalm 40 says "You have opened my ears", Hebrews has "you prepared a body for me."”

Is that in Psalm 40, or not? Make your call.

What's really going on

Out of the pit, a new song

In the text

The title reads "For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David." (40:1). Then the psalm opens with a rescue already done: "I waited patiently for the LORD. He turned to me, and heard my cry" (40:1). In Hebrew I waited patiently is one verb said twice, qavvoh qivviti (tap waited). Then the LORD acts: "He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay" (40:2) (tap pit), and "He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand" (40:2). Then "He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God" (40:3). And one man's rescue reaches others: "Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD" (40:3), and "Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust" (40:4). In Hebrew the trust of 40:4 is a noun that Strong's traces to the verb trust in 40:3 ("from 982").

Where it leads to Jesus

Behold, I have come

In the text

Psalms 40:6leads toHebrews 10:5-7

The psalm says, "Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering" (Psalm 40:6), and "Then I said, “Behold, I have come. It is written about me in the book in the scroll" (Psalm 40:7). Hebrews says, "Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “You didn’t desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me" (Hebrews 10:5), and "Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.’" (Hebrews 10:7). Then it names him: "the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10). The WEB words the lines differently: where the psalm has You have opened my ears, Hebrews has you prepared a body for me. Hebrews doesn't name the psalm.

Honest questions

Questions people ask about Psalm 40

That was a taste

The rest of Psalm 40 is waiting in Favor

  • What God didn’t desire, and what the speaker delights in
  • Counted twice
  • Not held back
  • The psalm in Hebrews
  • Again in Psalm 70
  • 10 questions as you read
  • 11 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it

חָפֵץchafetssay cha-FETS

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "delight in". Strong's: "to be pleased with, desire". The psalm has it twice. "Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire" (40:6), and "I delight to do your will, my God" (40:8). What God doesn't desire is set beside what the speaker delights to do. Hosea has the same verb, where the WEB has I desire: "For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6). Another psalm has it with sacrifice too: "For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it" (Psalm 51:16).

For your group

Psalm 40 Bible study questions

  1. 1"I waited patiently for the LORD. He turned to me, and heard my cry" (40:1). What have you had to wait on God for? What did the waiting look like?
  2. 2"He has put a new song in my mouth … Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD" (40:3). Has seeing what God did for someone else ever helped you trust him? Whose story was it?
  3. 3"I will not seal my lips" (40:9). Is there something God has done for you that you've kept to yourself? Who might need to hear it?

Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Psalm 40 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.

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Questions

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home