1. The psalmist’s reflection on the past, concluding with a benediction (40:1–4)

a. A reflection on deliverance (40:1–3)

b. A benediction on the one who trusts in the Lord (40:4)

2. The “new song” and lament (40:5–17)

a. The “new song”: An individual prayer of thanksgiving (40:5–10)

i. A declaration of God’s “wonders” (40:5)

ii. Gratitude expressed not by sacrifices but by observance of the Torah (40:6–10)

b. An individual lament (40:11–17)

i. Prayer for mercy (40:11)

ii. Confession of sins that “have overtaken” the psalmist (40:12)

iii. Prayer for deliverance (40:13–17)

Psalm 40. ‘Glad news of deliverance’

The theme of waiting, expounded in Psalm 37, has had its painful application in Psalm 38 and 39, but now its triumphant outcome. The rescue, pictured memorably in the opening lines, demands a fitting celebration, and David is enabled to see that no mere ritual can suffice for it: only an act of pure self-giving. This he prepares to make, with a declaration which in reality none but the Messiah will be able to fulfil, as the New Testament makes plain. His ‘Lo, I come’ is the high point of the psalm.

But trouble returns, and waiting is again David’s lot. The psalm ends with a prayer of distress, most of which reappears later in the Psalter as a separate psalm (70). It has a note of urgency, yet at the same time one of underlying joy, as David remembers a wider circle and a bigger cause than his most pressing needs.