Psalms 70 Overview
David asks God to make haste, turn back those seeking his hurt, bring joy to those seeking God, and remember that he is poor and needy.
Before you read Psalms 70
Coming from
Psalm 69 centered on a righteous sufferer overwhelmed by reproach. Psalms is an anthology rather than a continuous chronological story, so the connection here is canonical and thematic.
In this chapter
David asks God to make haste, turn back those seeking his hurt, bring joy to those seeking God, and remember that he is poor and needy.
Leads into
Psalm 71 turns to lifelong trust from youth into old age, continuing the Psalter’s arranged movement without requiring that the two psalms describe consecutive historical events.
Key understandingExplore deeper
Psalm 70 belongs to Book II of the Psalter (Psalms 42–72). Psalm 70 is closely related to Psalm 40:13-17, functioning as a concentrated emergency prayer.
Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper
Central truth
An urgent plea for immediate help.
Lament truth
In Psalm 70, biblical faith brings grief, fear, confusion, and need directly to God rather than hiding them.
Reading emphasis
Psalm 70 deliberately moves from its opening emphasis on make haste to its closing emphasis on poor and needy; the whole movement matters.
Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper
Lament connection
Lamentations 3 shows the same biblical freedom to bring profound affliction before God while still remembering hope. This connection helps frame Psalm 70.
Canonical connection
Psalm 70 stands within the Psalter’s wider movement among lament, trust, praise, wisdom, kingship, and remembrance of God’s works.
What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper
Keep lament in context
Do not mistake every anguished sentence in Psalm 70 for the psalmist’s settled theological conclusion; lament often voices how the crisis feels before faith answers it.
Read the poetry as poetry
Psalm 70 uses compressed poetic language. Do not make every image a literal mechanism or a hidden symbol unless Scripture itself establishes that meaning.
Read Psalms 70 watching for…
make haste.
ashamed enemies.
aha aha.
seekers rejoice.
poor and needy.