“I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. ” -Psalm 40:9-10
The Psalmist uses parallelisms and litotes to express his thanksgiving and testify of his witness. This is a dramatic emphasis. Note the pattern.
First, there are two parallelisms, each with the pattern of I have; I have not; I have not. I have; I have not; I have not. (The last I have not is implied in the compound construction of the sentence: I have not concealed your steadfast love and (I have not concealed) your faithfulness from the great congregation.
Each litotes (the negative used to emphasize the positive) creates its own emphasis.
I have not:
- Restrained my lip.
- Hidden your deliverance within my heart.
- Concealed your steadfast love from the congregation.
- Concealed your faithfulness from the congregation.
An added emphasis is created by paralleling the affirmative statements—I have told the glad news of deliverance… and I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation—with the litotes.
Finally, The double use of parallelisms (paralleled parallelisms) is like a superlative emphasis!
All this shows the construction of the Psalmist’s poetry says as much as the content of the poetry.
It’s like he is shouting to the Lord with great joy (poetically speaking) not only about his deliverance but about how he testified to the congregation about his deliverance.
He has held nothing back; he has, proverbially speaking, shouted from the rooftops to the world that the Lord is his Savior!