Psalms 40:11

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹¹O LORD, do not withhold Your mercy from me; Your loving devotion and faithfulness will always guard me.¹²For 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. ¹³Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; hurry, O LORD, to help me. ¹⁴May those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; may those who wish me harm be repelled and humiliated. ¹⁵May those who say to me, "Aha, aha!" be appalled at their own shame. ¹⁶May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation always say, "The LORD be magnified!" ¹⁷But I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my helper and deliverer; O my God, do not delay.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Withhold: From this verse to the end, we have quite a new subject; for the former contains a thanksgiving, and this contains a supplication. It is nearly the same as the seventieth, and probably formed a distinct Psalm. Psalms 69:13, Psalms 69:16

let thy: Psalms 23:6, Psalms 43:3, Psalms 57:3, Psalms 61:7, Psalms 85:10, Hebrews 5:7

Reciprocal: Psalms 25:6 - thy tender mercies Psalms 51:1 - tender

Cross-References

Genesis 40:21
Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.

Genesis 49:11
He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

Leviticus 10:9
"You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink when you enter the Tent of Meeting, or else you will die; this is a perpetual statute for the generations to come.

1 Kings 10:5
the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the service and attire of his attendants and cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he presented at the house of the LORD, it took her breath away.

2 Chronicles 9:4
the food at his table, the seating of his servants, the service and attire of his attendants and cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he presented at the house of the LORD, it took her breath away.

Proverbs 3:10
then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord,.... this is a petition of Christ to his Father, when in the midst of his sorrows and sufferings, before related; and particularly when he hid his face from him, and withheld the discoveries of his tender and affectionate love;

let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me; as he had promised; of which promise some notice is given, Isaiah 49:8, in the fulfilment of which the lovingkindness, truth, and faithfulness of God, would appear. Some read these words as expressive of faith in these things, "thou wilt not withhold", c. "thy lovingkindness and thy truth shall continually preserve me" o.

o לא תכלא "non cohibebis", Gejerus, Michaelis יצרוני "custodient me", Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord - Do not restrain or hold back thy compassions. Let thy mercies - the expressions of thy love - flow out freely toward me in connection with what I have done. As applicable to the Redeemer, this is a prayer that God would bestow upon him in connection with his work, and as a reward of his work, appropriate proofs of his goodness. And especially is this to be understood here as a prayer for support and deliverance in the sorrows that came upon him in the accomplishment of his work. The prayer is intermediate between the expression of his purpose to do the will of God when all other means of salvation had failed Psalms 40:6-8, and the sorrows or sufferings that would come upon him in the accomplishment of his work Psalms 40:12-13. He saw himself at this point of his life, as represented in the psalm, as about to sink into the depth of woes. He had kept the law of God, and had by his obedience thus far done His will. He had made known the truth of God, and had declared His great message to the assembled multitude that had crowded his path, and thronged to hear him. He saw himself now about to enter the vale of sorrow; to plunge into that depth of the unutterable woes connected with the making of an atonement. He prayed, therefore, that, in these approaching sorrows, God would not withhold the expression of his tender mercy. The point of time, therefore, in the Redeemer’s life which the verse before us occupies, is that awful and sorrowful hour when, his public work of teaching and of miracles finished, he was about to endure the agonies of Gethsemane and of the cross.

Let thy loving-kindness - Thy mercy. “And thy truth.” Thy promises; thy plighted support and strength; thy fidelity. That is, he prayed that God would show himself true and faithful in bearing him through the great work of the atonement.

Continually - Through the whole of these sorrows. Do not for a moment leave or forsake me.

Preserve me - Keep me from sinking under these woes; from speaking any improper word; from shrinking back; from being overcome by the tempter; from failing in the great work now to be accomplished. As the Redeemer had a human as well as a divine nature; as he was man, with all human susceptibilities to suffering, it was not inappropriate that he should utter this prayer, and lift up his heart with the utmost earnestness to God, that he might not be forsaken in the consummation of the great work of his life, and that this work might not fail.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 40:11. Thy tender mercies — רחמיך rachameycha, such propensities and feelings as a mother bears to her child; or animals in general to their young.

Let thy loving-kindness — חסדך chasdecha, thy overflowing and superabundant mercy.

And thy truth — What is revealed in thy word: continually preserve me. Mercy to help me, truth to direct me; and, by the operation of both, I shall be continually preserved from sin and evil.