What Does Psalms 40:1 Mean?

Psalm 40 is a psalm of David that opens with the remembered experience of answered prayer (verses 1-10) and closes with a renewed petition in present need (verses 11-17). Verse 1: "I waited patiently for YHWH; he inclined to me and heard my cry." The patient-waiting (qavoh qivviti YHWH, waiting I waited for YHWH: the qaveh-infinitive-absolute for intensity : the doubled qavah/wait giving the patience-of-prolonged-waiting, not a brief-instantaneous wait but the sustained, emphatic keeping-on-waiting that Psalm 37:7's dom-vehitthollel and Psalm 39:7's tochali-lekha instructed) and the YHWH-inclining-to-hear (vayyet elay vayishma shav'ati, and he inclined toward me and heard my cry: the natah/incline as the stance of attentive-listening : YHWH bowing the ear toward the psalmist : and the shama'/hear of the cry of Psalm 34:6's and Psalm 39:12's shav'ah/cry-for-help). The patient-waiting produced the answered-hearing.

The qavoh-qivviti (waiting I waited) is the most emphatic waiting-expression in the Psalter: the doubled root gives the temporal-intensity of long-sustained-waiting : not a brief petitionful pause but the full weight of extended hope-and-wait. The vayyet-elay (he inclined toward me) is the embodied metaphor of divine attentiveness: the God who could remain upright and distant bends/inclines toward the small petitioner. The inclined ear and heard cry are the answer to Psalm 39:12's petition (hear my prayer, give ear to my cry).

Isaiah 49:8's "in a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you" is verse 1's vayyet-elay-vayishma-shav'ati (he inclined to me and heard my cry) as the divine-speech of salvation-timing: the patient-waiting (verse 1's qavoh-qivviti) is answered in the favorable-time-of-salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2's "for he says, 'In the favorable time I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" quotes Isaiah 49:8 which reflects verse 1's structure: the patient-waiting-and-answered-hearing of verse 1 is the "day of salvation" applied by Paul to the present moment of gospel-proclamation. Hebrews 10:36-37's "for you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay" is verse 1's qavoh-qivviti as the hebraic-endurance that produces the received promise.