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Psalm 41
New King James Version

### The Blessing and Suffering of the Godly

#### To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

41 Blessed is he who considers the [a]poor;
The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
2 The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive,
And he will be blessed on the earth;
(A)You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness;
You will [b]sustain him on his sickbed.

4 I said, “Lord, be merciful to me;
(B)Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
5 My enemies speak evil of me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And if he comes to see me, he speaks [c]lies;
His heart gathers iniquity to itself;
When he goes out, he tells it.

7 All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they [d]devise my hurt.
8 “An[e] evil disease,” they say, “clings to him.
And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”
9 (C)Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
(D)Who ate my bread,
Has [f]lifted up his heel against me.

10 But You, O Lord, be merciful to me, and raise me up,
That I may repay them.
11 By this I know that You are well pleased with me,
Because my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And (E)set me before Your face forever.

13 (F)Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.

#### Footnotes

1. Psalm 41:1 helpless or powerless
2. Psalm 41:3 restore
3. Psalm 41:6 empty words
4. Psalm 41:7 plot
5. Psalm 41:8 Lit. A thing of Belial
6. Psalm 41:9 Acted as a traitor

#### Cross references

1. Psalm 41:2 : Ps. 27:12
2. Psalm 41:4 : Ps. 6:2; 103:3; 147:3
3. Psalm 41:9 : 2 Sam. 15:12; Job 19:13, 19
4. Psalm 41:9 : Ps. 55:12–14, 20; Jer. 20:10; Obad. 7; [Mic. 7:5]; Matt. 26:14–16, 21–25, 47–50; John 13:18, 21–30; Acts 1:16, 17
5. Psalm 41:12 : [Job 36:7; Ps. 21:6; 34:15]
6. Psalm 41:13 : Ps. 72:18, 19; 89:52; 106:48; 150:6

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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