What Does Psalm 70:2 Mean?
Let them be ashamed and humbled, those who seek after my living soul; let them be turned back and fall behind in shame, those who desire my hurt.
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
Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.THE KEY
The same psalm contrasts people seeking the speaker’s life for harm with people seeking the LORD for joy: the object and aim define the pursuit.
THE MEANING
The speaker’s living self is the target of a pursuit aimed at harm. The verse names that threat plainly and asks that its pursuers be turned back and exposed in shame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that whoever pursues another’s life gets to set the outcome: the speaker asks for the pursuers themselves to be turned back and shamed.
THE ROOT
נַפְשִׁי
nafshi
GROWS FROM
נפשׁ
n-p-sh
Living self, life, or person.
“living soul” in this verse is nafshi. The word rendered “soul” can name a whole living person, not only an inward or disembodied part. Here, the speaker’s nefesh is the life being pursued for harm.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: Living soul, living self, person, or life.
נֶפֶשׁ
Genesis 2:7 calls the human a “living soul” with this word; here it names the person whose life is under threat.
naphash: Be refreshed or rest.
נָפַשׁ
Exodus 31:17 uses this related form for being refreshed, showing a word family that can speak of a living self under strain and at rest.
מְבַקְשֵׁי
mevaqeshei
GROWS FROM
בקשׁ
b-q-sh
Seek, search for, or request.
“seek after” in this verse is mevaqeshei. The same seeking word appears again in Psalm 70:4, where people seek the LORD and rejoice. The verb names the pursuit; its object and aim show whether it brings harm or joy.
ALSO GROWS
biqqesh: Sought or requested.
בִּקֵּשׁ
This verb form shows seeking as an intentional pursuit; in this verse, the following words reveal its harmful aim.
mevaqeshei: Those seeking or pursuing.
מְבַקְשֵׁי
This form recurs in Psalm 70:4 for those seeking the LORD, placing two very different pursuits side by side.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly pictures harm as a pursuit that can recoil on the one who sets it in motion.
Let them be shamed and brought low, those who seek my living soul; let them turn back and be exposed, those who plan my harm.Whoever digs a pit falls into it; whoever rolls a stone, it turns back upon him.Do not be led astray. God is not sneered at. For whatever a person sows, that also he reaps.THE THREAD
Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you, and let those who love your deliverance say continually, Let God grow great.The Hebrew root בקשׁ (baqash, seek) appears in both verses: here, people seek the speaker’s life for harm; in verse 4, people seek the LORD and rejoice. The root names the pursuit, while its object and aim reveal its character.
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