Bible Strands
Psalms 40:2
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David recounts what the LORD did for him after a period of patient waiting (v.1). The speaker is the one lifted; the audience is the congregation or future reader.
The words — שָׁאוֹן (sha'on) is rendered "despair" in the BSB but literally means "roaring" or "howling," a pit that makes noise — an active, not passive, place of distress.
The thread — The motif of God setting one's feet on stable ground recurs in Psalms 27:5, 37:23, and 119:133, where the LORD orders or steadies a person's steps.
Why it lands — The verse moves from rescue to stability: being pulled out of the pit is not the end; the point is that one's footing is made firm. It asks the reader to notice that deliverance includes a place to stand, not merely a removal from danger.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
Cross-references
- Psalms 37:23 The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD who takes delight in his journey.
- Psalms 119:133 Order my steps in Your word; let no sin rule over me.
- Psalms 27:5 For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high upon a rock.
- Psalms 61:2 From the ends of the earth I call out to You whenever my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
- Matthew 7:24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
- Psalms 71:20 Though You have shown me many troubles and misfortunes, You will revive me once again. Even from the depths of the earth You will bring me back up.
- Jonah 2:5 The waters engulfed me to take my life; the watery depths closed around me; the seaweed wrapped around my head.
- Psalms 69:2 I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.
- Psalms 69:14 Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters.
- Psalms 86:13 For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.