What Does Psalm 70:1 Mean?
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. Hurry, O God, to snatch me free; hurry to help me, O LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
The English repeats “make haste,” but the Hebrew places one call to hurry after both requests, rescue me and come to my aid, gathering them into one urgency.
THE MEANING
When danger presses, this verse gives the reader words for both needs: to be pulled clear of what threatens and to receive help where the need is felt. The call to hurry gathers both pleas into one urgency. God is addressed as the one who rescues and comes to aid.
THE ROOT
לְהַצִּילֵנִי
lehatsileni
GROWS FROM
נצל
Snatch away; rescue.
“to snatch me free” in this verse is lehatsileni. The plea asks to be pulled clear, not merely to have the danger acknowledged. English “deliver” carries this force of being taken out of what threatens.
ALSO GROWS
hitsil: Rescue, deliver.
הִצִּיל
This causative form shows the requested action: bring someone out of danger.
nitsal: Escape, be rescued.
נִצַּל
This form shows the other side of the same root: the person is brought clear.
לְעֶזְרָתִי
le'ezrati
GROWS FROM
עזר
Help; aid or support.
The verse pairs rescue from danger with aid at the point of need. The second plea makes help present and personal: “to my aid.”
ALSO GROWS
azar: Help, assist.
עָזַר
The verb names the act of coming to someone’s aid.
ezer: Help, aid; helper.
עֵזֶר
The noun shows that this root can name both the support given and the one who gives it.
THE PATTERN
A cry for rescue can name both being brought out of danger and receiving help where the need is felt.
But you, LORD, do not move far; my strength, hurry to my help.Hurry to my aid, O Lord, my deliverance.Let us therefore draw near, with open speech, to the throne of favor, that we may receive compassion, and find favor to help in the right moment.THE THREAD
Be pleased, O LORD, to snatch me out. O LORD, hurry to help me.This verse places the same rescue root נצל (natsal, snatch away or rescue) beside עזר (azar, help or aid), then closes with חוּשָׁה (chushah, make haste). Psalm 70:1 gathers the same two needs under that single final call to hurry.
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