Tap any verse number for what that verse means.
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.
Understand This
Psalm 70, explained
What Psalm 70 is saying
A brief, urgent plea for deliverance, Psalm 70 is nearly identical to the closing verses of Psalm 40 (vv. 13–17), functioning as an independent emergency prayer. Its compressed form—five verses of concentrated petition—makes it one of the Psalter's most focused lament prayers. The contrast between the shame of enemies and the joy of those who seek God creates the psalm's structural axis.
The background behind it
The superscription's 'for a memorial offering' (lehazkir) suggests liturgical use, possibly accompanying the azkarah grain offering. Its brevity and intensity suggest a prayer designed for immediate crisis situations requiring swift divine intervention.
Themes running underneath
The psalm's theology centers on divine urgency—the repeated 'hasten' (chushah) and 'do not delay' frame the entire prayer. The plea for haste does not represent impatience but existential extremity. The identification of God as 'my help and my deliverer' concentrates covenant theology into a single confession.
Why it still matters
Psalm 70 legitimizes brief, desperate prayer. Not all prayer requires elaborate structure; sometimes faith is compressed into a cry. The psalm models how to pray when there is no time for anything but essentials.
Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.