the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
thinketh
יַחֲשָׁ֫בya.cha.Shav
H2803
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
help
עֶזְרָתִ֣י'ez.ra.Ti
H5833
aid · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
deliverer
וּמְפַלְטִ֣יu.me.fal.Ti
H6403
to slip out · conjunction + verb, piel active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
tarrying
תְּאַחַֽרte.'a.Char
H309
to loiter (i.e. be behind) · verb, piel jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
God
אֱ֝לֹהַ֗י'e.lo.Hai
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 70:5 But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.
Hebrews 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Isaiah 41:17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel w…
Psalms 34:6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Psalms 54:4 Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.
Psalms 86:1 Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.
Psalms 40:5 Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in orde…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 40:11–end
The psalmist, having meditated upon the work of redemption, and spoken of it in the person of the Messiah, now comes to make improvement of the doctrine of his mediation between us and God, and therefore speaks in his own person. Christ having done his Father's will, and finished his work, and given orders for the preaching of the gospel to every creature, we are encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace, for mercy and grace.
I. This may encourage us to pray for the mercy of God, and to put ourselves under the protection of that mercy, Psa 40:11. "Lord, thou hast not spared thy Son, nor withheld him; withhold not thou thy tender mercies then, which thou hast laid up for us in him; for…
A summary of his condition and hopes.
thinketh upon--or provides for me. "He was heard," "when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was able to save him from death" [Heb 5:7].
Next: Psalms Chapter 41
John Gill on Psalms 40:17
But I am poor and needy,.... As Christ was literally, 2 Corinthians 8:9; and in a spiritual sense, when deserted by his Father, forsaken by his disciples, and surrounded by his enemies; and had the sins of his people, the curse of the law, and the wrath of God upon him;
yet the Lord thinketh upon me; thinketh good for me, as the Targum; or thinks highly of me; has me in great esteem though despised of men, and in such a suffering state;
thou art my help and my deliverer; he believed he should have what he prayed for, Psalm 40:13; see Isaiah 50:7;
make no tarrying, O my God; which is a repetition of the request in Psalm 40:13.
John Calvin on Psalms 40:16–end
Psalm 40:16-17
16. Let all those that seek thee be glad and rejoice in thee: and let those that love thy salvation say continually, Jehovah be magnified! 17. But I am poor and needy: Jehovah hath regarded me; thou art my help and my deliverer: O thou my God! make no delay.
16. Let all those that seek thee be glad and rejoice in thee. David here uses another argument -- one which he often adduces elsewhere -- in order to obtain deliverance; not that it is necessary to allege reasons to persuade God, but because it is profitable to confirm our faith by such supports. As, then, it is the will of God that he should be known in his gracious character, not only of one or two, but generality of a…
The Church Fathers
Truly, what higher or holier poverty can there be than this, that a person knowing he is defenseless of his own, asks help for daily life from another's generosity and realizes his life and being to depend every moment on God's help. Such a one truly confesses himself "the beggar of the Lord," like the psalmist, who said, "I am a beggar and a poor man, and God helps me."
"But I" (ver. 17). I for whom they were seeking evil, I whose "life they were seeking, that they might take it away." But turn thee to another description of persons. But I to whom they said, "Well done! Well done!" "I am poor and needy." There is nothing in me that may be praised as mine own. Let Him rend my sackcloth in sunder, and cover me with His robe, For, "Now I live, not I myself; but Christ liveth in me." If it is Christ that "liveth in thee," and all that thou hast is Christ's, and all that thou art to have hereafter is Christ's also; what art thou in thyself? "I am poor and needy." Now I am not rich, because I am not proud. He was rich who said, "Lord, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are;" but the publican was poor, who said, "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner!" The one was belching from his fulness; the other from want was crying piteously, "I am poor and needy!" And what wouldest thou do, O poor and needy man? Beg at God's door; "Knock, and it shall be opened unto thee." -"As for me, I am poor and needy. Yet the Lord careth for me."-"Cast thy care upon the Lord, and He shall bring it to pass." What canst thou effect for thyself by taking care what canst thou provide for thyself? Let Him who made thee "care for thee." He who cared for thee before thou wert, how shall He fail to have a care of thee, now that thou art what He would have thee be? For now thou art a believer, now thou art walking in the "way of righteousness." Shall not He have a care for thee, who "maketh His sun rise on the good and on the evil, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust"? ... "Thou art my Help, and my Deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God" (ver. 17). He is calling upon God, imploring Him, fearing lest he should fall away: "Make no tarrying." What is meant by "make no tarrying"? We lately read concerning the days of tribulation: "Unless those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved." The members of Christ-the Body of Christ extended everywhere-are asking of God, as one single person, one single poor man, and beggar! For He too was poor, who "though He was rich, yet became poor, that ye through His poverty might be made rich." It is He that maketh rich those who are the true poor; and maketh poor those who are falsely rich. He crieth unto Him; "From the end of the earth I cried unto Thee, when my heart was in heaviness." There will come…
On Psa 40:17 compare Psa 35:27. David wishes, as he does in that passage, that the pious may most heartily rejoice in God, the goal of their longing; and that on account of the salvation that has become manifest, which they love (Ti2 4:8), they may continually say: Let Jahve become great, i.e., be magnified or celebrated with praises! In Psa 40:17 with ואני he comes back to his own present helpless state, but only in order to contrast with it the confession of confident hope. True he is עני ואביון (as in Psa 109:22; Psa 136:1, cf. Psa 25:16), but He who ruleth over all will care for him: Dominus solicitus erit pro me (Jerome). חשׁב in the same sense in which in Psa 40:6 the מחשׁבות, i.e., Go…
The psalmist is troubled by both his adversities and his own sins and prays for rescue. • This passage is repeated almost verbatim as Ps 70.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 40:17
But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
But I am poor and needy. The man of sorrows closes with another appeal, based upon his affliction and poverty. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Sweet was this solace to the holy heart of the great sufferer. The Lord's thoughts of us are a cheering subject of meditation, for they are ever kind and never cease. His disciples forsook him, and his friends forgat him, but Jesus knew that Jehovah never turned away his heart from him, and this upheld him in the hour of need. Thou art my help and my deliverer. His unmoved confidence stayed itself alone on God. O that all believers wo…
