Discovery BoxPsalms 40:5 
Context40:5 O Lord, my God, you have accomplished many things;
you have done amazing things and carried out your purposes for us. 1
No one can thwart you! 2
I want to declare them and talk about them,
but they are too numerous to recount! 3
Psalms 40:10
Context40:10 I have not failed to tell about your justice; 4
I spoke about your reliability and deliverance;
I have not neglected to tell the great assembly about your loyal love and faithfulness. 5
1 tn Heb “many things you have done, you, O
2 tn Heb “there is none arrayed against you.” The precise meaning of the text is unclear, but the collocation עָרַךְ אֶל (’arakh ’el, “array against”) is used elsewhere of military (Judg 20:30; 1 Chr 19:17) or verbal opposition (Job 32:14).
3 tn Heb “I will declare and I will speak, they are too numerous to recount.” The present translation assumes that the cohortatives are used in a hypothetical manner in a formally unmarked conditional sentence, “Should I try to declare [them] and speak [of them]…” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). For other examples of cohortatives in the protasis (“if” clause) of a conditional sentence, see GKC 320 §108.e. (It should be noted, however, that GKC understands this particular verse in a different manner. See GKC 320 §108.f, where it is suggested that the cohortatives are part of an apodosis with the protasis being suppressed.) Another option is to take the cohortatives as a declaration of the psalmist’s resolve to announce the truth expressed in the next line. In this case one might translate: “I will declare and speak [the truth]: They are too numerous to recount.”
4 tn Heb “your justice I have not hidden in the midst of my heart.”
5 tn Heb “I have not hidden your loyal love and reliability.”
