I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
Parallel translations
- WEB I delight to do your will, my God. Yes, your law is within my heart.”
- BSB I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”
- NKJV I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”
- NASB “I delight to do Your will, my God; Your Law is within my heart.”
- NLT I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David delights to do God's will, with His law written on his heart. Obedience springs from inward delight, not outward compulsion.
Overview
The internalized law anticipates the new covenant promise that God writes His law on the heart (Jeremiah 31:33). Christ supremely delighted to do the Father's will, even to the cross. Genuine godliness loves God's commands from within.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Rom 7:22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
- John 4:34Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
- Jer 15:16Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
- Ps 119:24Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.
- Ps 119:16I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
- Ps 119:47And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.
- Ps 37:30–31The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.
- Jer 31:33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
- Ps 119:92Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
- Ps 112:1Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
- Prov 3:1My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
- 2 Cor 3:3Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
- Job 23:12Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
- Rom 8:29For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 40:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.