otcanon
Psalms 70
A brief psalm of urgent petition, nearly identical to the closing verses of Psalm 40, David cries to Jehovah for swift deliverance while his enemies mock and plot against him. The opening plea—'make haste, O God'—frames the whole: the petitioner is in straits too narrow for delay. The psalm divides sharply between two camps: those who seek the psalmist's ruin and deserve shame and confusion, and those who seek Jehovah and deserve gladness. The closing confession—'I am poor and needy'—is not self-pity but covenant posture, the acknowledged dependence that makes Jehovah the only possible deliverer.
1
Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD.
2
Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.
3
Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.
4
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.
5
But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.
