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Psalm 40:2-4  New English Translation

2 He lifted me out of the watery pit,[a]
out of the slimy mud.[b]
He placed my feet on a rock
and gave me secure footing.[c]
3 He gave me reason to sing a new song,[d]
praising our God.[e]
May many see what God has done,
so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord.[f]
4 How blessed[g] is the one[h] who trusts in the Lord[i]
and does not seek help from[j] the proud or from liars.[k]

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 40:2 tn Heb “cistern of roaring.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “cistern, pit”) is used metaphorically here of Sheol, the place of death, which is sometimes depicted as a raging sea (see Ps 18:4, 15-16). The noun שָׁאוֹן (shaʾon, “roaring”) refers elsewhere to the crashing sound of the sea’s waves (see Ps 65:7).
  2. Psalm 40:2 tn Heb “from the mud of mud.” The Hebrew phrase translated “slimy mud” employs an appositional genitive. Two synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.
  3. Psalm 40:2 tn Heb “he established my footsteps.”
  4. Psalm 40:3 sn A new song was appropriate because the Lord had intervened in the psalmist’s experience in a fresh and exciting way.
  5. Psalm 40:3 tn Heb “and he placed in my mouth a new song, praise to our God.”
  6. Psalm 40:3 tn Heb “may many see and fear and trust in the Lord.” The translation assumes that the initial prefixed verbal form is a jussive (“may many see”), rather than an imperfect (“many will see”). The following prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) conjunctive are taken as indicating purpose or result (“so that they might swear allegiance…and trust”) after the introductory jussive.
  7. Psalm 40:4 tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).
  8. Psalm 40:4 tn Heb “man.” See the note on the word “one” in Ps 1:1.
  9. Psalm 40:4 tn Heb “who has made the Lord his [object of] trust.”
  10. Psalm 40:4 tn Heb “and does not turn toward.”
  11. Psalm 40:4 tn Heb “those falling away toward a lie.”
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