Psalms 40:4 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

His trust, i.e. his only trust or refuge, as appears from the following words: q.d. I said, many shall trust in the Lord; and they shall not be losers by it, nor disappointed of their hope, but they are and shall be blessed. Respecteth not. Heb. looketh not towards, to wit, with love and delight, and desire to imitate them; or with confidence and expectation of relief from thence, as this phrase is oft used, as Psalms 25:15, Psalms 69:3 121:1 141:8, and as the opposition of this clause to the foregoing seems to imply. The proud or, the mighty, i.e. the great and proud potentates of the world, to whom most men are apt to look and trust, and in whom the psalmist forbids us to put our trust, Psalms 146:3. Such as turn aside, to wit, from God, in whom alone they ought to trust. To lies, i.e. to lying vanities, such as worldly power, and wisdom, and riches, and all other earthly things or persons in which men are prone to trust; which are called lies here, and Psalms 4:2, Psalms 62:9 Micah 1:14, and elsewhere, because they promise more than they can perform. See also Psalms 7:14, Psalms 119:18 Hosea 10:13, Hosea 12:1.