What Does Psalm 40:13 Mean in the King James?
Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew keeps rescue and help distinct: one pulls you clear of danger; the other brings aid to your need.
THE MEANING
Your need can be named plainly: deliver me, and hurry to my aid. The verse holds the request for rescue together with the urgency of needing help now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that urgent asking signals weak trust: here, urgency is directed straight toward the LORD.
THE ROOT
לְהַצִּילֵנִי
lehatsileni
GROWS FROM
נצל
natsal
To snatch away, rescue, or pull free.
This verb keeps the endangered person and the act of pulling them clear in view. English “deliver” can sound abstract; the root carries the motion of rescue.
ALSO GROWS
hitzil: He rescued or pulled free.
הִצִּיל
The same root makes rescue an active movement out of danger.
nitsal: Was rescued or escaped.
נִצַּל
This form shows the other side of the movement: the person who is brought clear.
עֶזְרָתִי
ezrati
GROWS FROM
עזר
azar
To help, aid, or support.
“Help” here is not another word for being pulled free. The plea turns from rescue to aid: the person in distress asks for support to meet the need at hand.
ALSO GROWS
ezer: Help or aid.
עֵזֶר
The noun carries the same idea of assistance named in the plea.
ozer: Helper; one who aids.
עוֹזֵר
This branch brings the source of the aid into view: help is someone coming to assist.
חוּשָׁה
chushah
GROWS FROM
חושׁ
chush
To hurry or hasten.
“make haste” in this verse is chushah. The plea gives its urgency a clear place in the sentence: rescue is requested, and the LORD is asked to hasten toward the need. The root makes speed part of the appeal, not an unspoken feeling.
ALSO GROWS
chush: Hasten or hurry.
חוּשׁ
The root verb names the urgency carried by the verse.
yechishennah: He will hasten it (Isaiah 60:22).
יְחִישֶׁנָּה
The same root can name a hastening act, echoing the plea for aid to come quickly.
THE PATTERN
A cry for help holds together the need to be pulled from danger and the need for aid to meet the present distress.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD.But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD.This verse repeats the same Hebrew rescue verb, help noun, and hurry verb in almost the same sequence. Its near-identical plea gives the reader another way to voice the same urgent request, holding rescue and aid side by side.
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