Psalm 41: Blessed Is He Who Considers the Poor

"Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive… The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee."

"Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish? And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it… An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me."

"But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen."

Lifting the heel

"Lifted up his heel" may picture a kick, a horse rearing, or contempt; to eat someone's bread created a bond of loyalty, which made betrayal by a table companion especially shameful. John 13:18 has Jesus quote 41:9 of Judas: "He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me."

The sickbed visit

Visiting the sick was a duty; here visitors come to collect bad news and spread it. The psalm reflects village social life in which illness was public and reputation fragile.

The shape of the poem

Teaching (vv. 1–3: the one who considers the poor will be kept), prayer (v. 4), the enemies quoted (vv. 5–9), prayer again (vv. 10–12). The psalm begins with ashre ("happy") and the doxology ends with barukh ("blessed"): two different Hebrew words that English renders the same way.

The doxology and the five books

41:13 is not part of the psalm's argument; it closes Book I. Each of the first four books ends with a doxology: 41:13, 72:18–19, 89:52 and 106:48; Psalm 150 crowns Book V. The division into five books, compared in the Midrash on Psalms to the five books of Moses, is ancient: the Greek Psalter keeps the doxologies. The library's Vulgate renders "Amen, and Amen" as "Fiat, fiat." See "How Psalms Came to Us."

Book I as David's

Almost every psalm in Book I is titled le-David; the exceptions are Psalms 1, 2, 10 and 33 (untitled in Hebrew). Many scholars see Book I as one of the oldest collections in the Psalter. The Hebrew preposition le- in "le-David" can mean "by," "for," "belonging to" or "concerning" David; a superscription records an ancient association, not a signature.