---
title: "Psalm 39 (40) – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/psalms/39/
description: "Psalm 39 (Psalm 40 in Hebrew numbering) in the CPDV, with the Latin Vulgate. Expectans expectavi. Christ's coming, and redeeming mankind."
---

# Psalm 39 (40)

Psalm 39 in the Vulgate numbering Bless follows is Psalm 40 in Hebrew numbering (the NABRE, RSV and KJV). Here are all 18 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Expectans expectavi. Christ's coming, and redeeming mankind.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Psalm 39 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Unto the end. A Psalm of David himself.
2. I have waited expectantly for the Lord, and he was attentive to me.
3. And he heard my prayers and he led me out of the pit of misery and the quagmire. And he stationed my feet upon a rock, and he directed my steps.
4. And he sent a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God. Many will see, and they will fear; and they will hope in the Lord.
5. Blessed is the man whose hope is in the name of the Lord, and who has no respect for vanities and absurd falsehoods.
6. You have accomplished your many wonders, O Lord my God, and there is no one similar to you in your thoughts. I have announced and I have spoken: they are multiplied beyond number.
7. Sacrifice and oblation, you did not want. But you have perfected ears for me. Holocaust and sin offering, you did not require.
8. Then I said, “Behold, I draw near.” At the head of the book, it has been written of me:
9. that I should do your will. My God, I have willed it. And your law is in the midst of my heart.
10. I have announced your justice in a great Church: behold, I will not restrain my lips. O Lord, you have known it.
11. I have not concealed your justice within my heart. I have spoken your truth and your salvation. I have not concealed your mercy and your truth from a great assembly.
12. O Lord, do not take your tender mercies far from me. Your mercy and your truth ever sustain me.
13. For evils without number have surrounded me. My iniquities have taken hold of me, and I was not able to see. They have been multiplied beyond the hairs of my head. And my heart has forsaken me.
14. Be pleased, O Lord, to rescue me. Look down, O Lord, to help me.
15. Let them together be confounded and awed, who seek after my soul to steal it away. Let them be turned back and be in awe, who wish evils upon me.
16. Let them bear their confusion all at once, who say to me, “Well, well.”
17. Let all who seek you exult and rejoice over you. And let those who love your salvation always say, “May the Lord be magnified.”
18. But I am a beggar and poor. The Lord has been concerned about me. You are my helper and my protector. My God, do not delay.

## Psalm 39 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. In finem. Psalmus ipsi David.
2. Exspectans exspectavi Dominum, et intendit mihi.
3. Et exaudivit preces meas, et eduxit me de lacu miseriæ et de luto fæcis. Et statuit super petram pedes meos, et direxit gressus meos.
4. Et immisit in os meum canticum novum, carmen Deo nostro. Videbunt multi, et timebunt, et sperabunt in Domino.
5. Beatus vir cujus est nomen Domini spes ejus, et non respexit in vanitates et insanias falsas.
6. Multa fecisti tu, Domine Deus meus, mirabilia tua; et cogitationibus tuis non est qui similis sit tibi. Annuntiavi et locutus sum: multiplicati sunt super numerum.
7. Sacrificium et oblationem noluisti; aures autem perfecisti mihi. Holocaustum et pro peccato non postulasti;
8. tunc dixi: Ecce venio. In capite libri scriptum est de me,
9. ut facerem voluntatem tuam. Deus meus, volui, et legem tuam in medio cordis mei.
10. Annuntiavi justitiam tuam in ecclesia magna; ecce labia mea non prohibebo: Domine, tu scisti.
11. Justitiam tuam non abscondi in corde meo; veritatem tuam et salutare tuum dixi; non abscondi misericordiam tuam et veritatem tuam a concilio multo.
12. Tu autem, Domine, ne longe facias miserationes tuas a me; misericordia tua et veritas tua semper susceperunt me.
13. Quoniam circumdederunt me mala quorum non est numerus; comprehenderunt me iniquitates meæ, et non potui ut viderem. Multiplicatæ sunt super capillos capitis mei, et cor meum dereliquit me.
14. Complaceat tibi, Domine, ut eruas me; Domine, ad adjuvandum me respice.
15. Confundantur et revereantur simul, qui quærunt animam meam ut auferant eam; convertantur retrorsum et revereantur, qui volunt mihi mala.
16. Ferant confestim confusionem suam, qui dicunt mihi: Euge, euge!
17. Exsultent et lætentur super te omnes quærentes te; et dicant semper: Magnificetur Dominus, qui diligunt salutare tuum.
18. Ego autem mendicus sum et pauper; Dominus sollicitus est mei. Adjutor meus et protector meus tu es; Deus meus, ne tardaveris.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 2657: At the Wellsprings of Prayer ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 150: "I Know Whom I Have Believed" ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 2824: "Thy Will Be Done on Earth as It is in Heaven" ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 13: “My iniquities” … That is, the sins of all mankind, which I have taken upon me.
- Verse 16: The Hebrew here is an interjection of insult and derision, like the Vah. Matt. 27. 49.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Sun, Jan 17, 2027: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time — Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10
- Thu, Jan 21, 2027: St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr — Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 17
- Mon, Apr 5, 2027: Annunciation of the Lord — Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11
- Thu, Aug 19, 2027 (computed): Thursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time — Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 40:5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10

5 more dates through December 31, 2028, in the [liturgical calendar](https://blessbible.app/calendar/).

Citations as published in the USCCB liturgical calendar (principal Mass, first option). Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish. Mass citations number the Psalms in the Hebrew way.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).