Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament
Psalms 70
Psalm 70: make haste, O God, a short cry against those who say Aha
General context
The speaker asks God to make haste to deliver him and the Lord to make haste to help him. He asks that those who seek his soul be ashamed and confounded, that those who desire his hurt be turned backward and put to confusion, and that those who say Aha, aha be turned back as a reward for their shame. He asks that all who seek God rejoice and be glad in him, and that those who love God's salvation say continually, Let God be magnified. He calls himself poor and needy and asks God to make haste to him, for God is his help and deliverer; he asks the Lord to make no tarrying.
Cited passages: Psalms 70:1, Psalms 70:2, Psalms 70:3, Psalms 70:4, Psalms 70:5
Psalms 70 (KJV)
1Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord.
2Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.
3Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.
4Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.
5But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying.
This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.
Historical context
The text as printed here carries no heading; verse 1 opens with "Make haste, O God, to deliver me", so this source names no author, occasion or musical direction. The speaker is a single "I" addressing God, and nothing is said about what the danger is; the enemies are described only as those who "seek after my soul", "desire my hurt" and "say, Aha, aha". These five verses closely match the last five verses of Psalm 40 with small changes: Psalm 40 has "Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me" for this psalm's doubled "make haste"; "Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame" where this psalm has "Let them be turned back"; "The Lord be magnified" where this psalm has "Let God be magnified"; and "yet the Lord thinketh upon me" where this psalm has "make haste unto me, O God". The text gives no statement about why the passage stands on its own here. There is no Selah, and the psalm ends without any report of an answer.
Cited passages: Psalms 70:1, Psalms 70:2, Psalms 70:3, Psalms 40:13, Psalms 40:15, Psalms 40:16, Psalms 40:17, Psalms 70:5
Literary context
Haste is the psalm's whole shape. "Make haste" opens verse 1 twice and returns in verse 5, and the final words are "make no tarrying", so the poem begins and ends on the demand for speed. Between them stand two matched wishes: shame, confusion and turning back for those who seek the speaker's soul, and rejoicing and a continual saying, "Let God be magnified", for those who seek God. The enemies are given one sound, "Aha, aha", and the friends one sentence. The speaker's self-description, "poor and needy", is set directly against "thou art my help and my deliverer", with no verse of confidence in between to slow it down. Compared with the same lines at the end of Psalm 40, this psalm drops the line "yet the Lord thinketh upon me" in favour of a third "make haste", so this version carries three calls for haste where Psalm 40 has one. It follows the long complaint of Psalm 69, whose speaker also called himself "poor and sorrowful".
Cited passages: Psalms 70:1, Psalms 70:5, Psalms 70:2, Psalms 70:4, Psalms 70:3, Psalms 40:17, Psalms 69:29
Key moments
- Make haste, O God (Psalms 70:1). The speaker asks God twice to make haste to deliver and help him.
- Turned backward (Psalms 70:2). He asks that those who seek his soul be ashamed and turned back.
- Aha, aha (Psalms 70:3). He asks that those who mock him be turned back as a reward for their shame.
- Let God be magnified (Psalms 70:4). He asks that all who seek God rejoice and say continually that God be magnified.
- Make no tarrying (Psalms 70:5). Poor and needy, he asks God his help and deliverer not to delay.
For reflection
The same five verses close Psalm 40 and stand alone here, with the line about the Lord thinking on the speaker replaced by another cry for haste; what changes when a prayer keeps its need but loses its one line of reassurance?
