Psalms 40:7-9

40:7 Then I say,

“Look! I come!

What is written in the scroll pertains to me. ¹ 

40:8 I want to do what pleases you, ²  my God.

Your law dominates my thoughts.” ³ 

40:9 I have told the great assembly ⁴  about your justice. ⁵ 

Look! I spare no words! ⁶ 

O Lord, you know this is true.

[40:7]  ¹ tn Heb “in the roll of the scroll it is written concerning me.” Apparently the psalmist refers to the law of God (see v. 8), which contains the commandments God desires him to obey. If this is a distinctly royal psalm, then the psalmist/king may be referring specifically to the regulations of kingship prescribed in Deut 17:14-20. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 315.

[40:8]  ² tn Or “your will.”

[40:8]  ³ tn Heb “your law [is] in the midst of my inner parts.” The “inner parts” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s thought life and moral decision making.

[40:9]  ³ sn The great assembly is also mentioned in Pss 22:25 and 35:18.

[40:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “I proclaim justice in the great assembly.” Though “justice” appears without a pronoun here, the Lord’s just acts are in view (see v. 10). His “justice” (צֶדֶק, tsedeq) is here the deliverance that originates in his justice; he protects and vindicates the one whose cause is just.

[40:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “Look! My lips I do not restrain.”