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14 [a]Be pleased, O Lord, to rescue me
    Lord, come quickly to my aid.
15 [b]May all those who seek to take my life
    endure shame and confusion.
May all those who desire my ruin
    be turned back and humiliated.
16 May those who cry out to me, “Aha, aha!”[c]
    be overcome with shame and dismay.
17 But may all who seek you
    rejoice in you and be jubilant.
May those who love your salvation
    cry out forever, “The Lord be magnified.”
18 Even though I am poor and needy,[d]
    the Lord keeps me in his thoughts.
You are my help and my deliverer;
    O my God, do not delay.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 40:14 Distress can remind a person of his attachment to sin. Is there any reason why people should vilify the person who acknowledges his faults? Realizing his attraction toward evil, the psalmist cries out to God, and the poor man rediscovers the joyous assurance that God thinks about him.
  2. Psalm 40:15 See notes on Pss 5:11; 35.
  3. Psalm 40:16 Aha, aha!: the mocking words of the psalmist’s adversaries.
  4. Psalm 40:18 Poor and needy: see note on Ps 34:7. My help and my deliverer: the salvation promised to the faithful (see Isa 25:9), first conceived as natural with reference to the Exodus or the return from the Exile, was later conceived as spiritual without restriction of space or time (see, e.g., Pss 18:1; 19:15).