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Narrow Road of Virtue and Wide Road of Sin. Jan Micker, not stated on the file page. National Museum in Warsaw. Public domain.

Psalm 40

17 verses · Thanksgiving and lament

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.

The line breaks below follow the poem's own punctuation.

I waited patiently for the LORD;He inclined to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay;He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, who has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us— none can compare to You— if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened.Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.

Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll:

I delight to do Your will, O my God;Your law is within my heart.”

I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You, O LORD, do know.

I have not covered up Your righteousness in my heart;I have declared Your faithfulness and salvation;I have not concealed Your loving devotion and faithfulness from the great assembly.

O LORD, do not withhold Your mercy from me;Your loving devotion and faithfulness will always guard me.

For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see.They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.

Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; hurry, O LORD, to help me.

May those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; may those who wish me harm be repelled and humiliated.

May those who say to me, “Aha, aha!” be appalled at their own shame.

May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation always say, “The LORD be magnified!”

But I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me.You are my helper and deliverer;O my God, do not delay.

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