Psalm 41 · a question people ask

Jesus gives a line of this psalm "that the Scripture may be fulfilled" (John 13:18). But the same psalm says, "I have sinned against you" (41:4). Is the whole psalm about Jesus?

In the text

John gives Jesus' words about one line. Jesus says, "that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.’" (John 13:18), which is the second half of Psalm 41:9. He doesn't quote the rest of the psalm, and John doesn't say how its other verses bear on Jesus. The psalm says who prays 41:4: "I said, “LORD, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”" (Psalm 41:4). It is the psalmist's own confession, in a psalm where his enemies say an evil disease has afflicted him (Psalm 41:8). Jesus says why he told them beforehand: "From now on, I tell you before it happens, that when it happens, you may believe that I am he" (John 13:19). So John answers for one line and doesn't say whether the rest of the psalm speaks of Jesus. These notes go no further than John: they don't carry 41:4 over to Jesus, and they don't say more about the rest of the psalm than the New Testament says.

The verses

“I don’t speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.’ From now on, I tell you before it happens, that when it happens, you may believe that I am he.”
John 13:18-19 · World English Bible
“I said, “LORD, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you.””
Psalm 41:4 · World English Bible
““An evil disease”, they say, “has afflicted him. Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.” Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.”
Psalm 41:8-9 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 41

Psalm 41: Who ate bread with me

At supper Jesus quotes only half of Psalm 41:9: "He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me" (John 13:18), not "my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted". And the enemies' "he shall rise up no more" (41:8) and the psalmist's "raise me up" (41:10) are one Hebrew verb.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions