The big picture
Psalm 70 has almost no spare motion. It begins by asking God to hurry and ends by asking him not to delay. Between those appeals, two kinds of seekers are placed side by side. One group seeks the speaker's life and enjoys his distress with an audible "Aha." The other seeks God, loves his salvation, and is asked to rejoice and say continually that God is magnified. The contrast reaches speech as well as intention. Gloating over another person's collapse stands opposite praise directed toward God. The speaker can ask gladness for others without disguising his own poverty and need. He can also call God helper and deliverer without pretending that help has already arrived. The psalm's confidence is therefore not calm distance from danger. It is the urgent persistence of a needy person who knows where the appeal must go.
Central truth
Psalm 70 compresses urgent prayer into five verses by asking God to hurry, seeking the reversal of those who delight in harm, calling God's seekers to continual gladness, and ending with the poor petitioner's repeated plea, 'make haste unto me.'
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Psalms 70:1: “Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD.”
Slow down at the turning point
Psalms 70:5: “But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.”
Keep this word trail visible
haste, help, LORD, seek, turned, ashamed
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Psalm 70:1
Make haste
Begin by reading verse 1 and then verse 5, so the class hears the same urgent request at both ends. "Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD." Explain that the heading in many Bibles calls it a psalm to bring to remembrance, a prayer that asks God to remember his servant. Teach this first because the shape of the psalm is its message: everything that follows is held inside a cry for help now, not later.
Psalm 70:2-3
Turned backward
Read 70:2-3. Name the two groups: those who "seek after my soul" and "desire my hurt", and those who "say, Aha, aha". Explain the verbs: ashamed, confounded, turned backward, put to confusion, all pictures of a plan that fails. Teach this second and stress that David hands the outcome to God. The prayer asks God to stop the harm and to let mockers taste the shame they wanted for someone else.
Psalm 70:4
Let God be magnified
Read verse 4 aloud and set it beside verse 3. One group says "Aha, aha"; the other says continually, "Let God be magnified." Explain that to magnify is to make great, to speak of God's greatness. Teach this step to show that even in a five-verse emergency prayer, David is concerned for the joy of "all those that seek thee". His own rescue is meant to make many people glad in God.
Psalm 70:5
Poor, needy and bold
Read the final verse: "But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying." Explain poor and needy as having nothing to bring. Then point to the two names for God, help and deliverer. Teach this last, and then set the whole psalm beside Psalm 40:13-17 so the class sees that these words were prayed before and could be prayed again.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"It is disrespectful to tell God to hurry."
The psalm says it twice: "Make haste, O God, to deliver me" (70:1) and "O LORD, make no tarrying" (70:5). Scripture gives us these words to pray. Urgent prayer is not a demand from a superior but the cry of one who is "poor and needy" (70:5) and trusts that God hears. Jesus taught persistent prayer in Luke 18:1-8.
"Using the same words as an older prayer is empty repetition."
Psalm 70 reuses Psalm 40:13-17 almost exactly, and Scripture includes both. What Jesus warned against in Matthew 6:7 was "vain repetitions" spoken to be heard for many words, not honest words prayed again. When an old prayer fits the need, praying it again is faithful, as Jesus did in Gethsemane when he prayed "saying the same words" (Matthew 26:44).
"Praying for enemies to be ashamed means wishing them harm."
The request is that those who "desire my hurt" be "turned backward" (70:2): that their attack fail. The psalm leaves the action to God and adds no curse beyond the shame their own plans deserve (70:3). It is a prayer for protection, prayed by someone defenceless. The New Testament adds the call to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44), which does not cancel praying to be kept from them.
Learning objectives
- Identify every expression of urgency in the opening and closing verses.
- Explain the reversal requested for those who seek the petitioner's hurt.
- Contrast the enemies' 'Aha, aha' with the seekers' 'Let God be magnified.'
- Explain why the petitioner can call himself poor and needy while still speaking with confidence.
- Identify the two titles for God in verse 5: help and deliverer.
- Compare Psalm 70 with Psalm 40:13–17 and explain why repeated prayer can be purposeful rather than lazy duplication.
Teacher preparation
- Read Psalm 70 aloud at normal pace, then again slowly enough to hear how often urgency returns.
- Place Psalm 40:13–17 beside the psalm because Psalm 70 closely reproduces that earlier prayer section.
- Mark every word of haste, shame, turning back, seeking, rejoicing, magnifying, poverty, help, and deliverance.
- Do not overbuild a historical setting the psalm does not supply; let the compact wording carry the lesson.
- Prepare one sentence distinguishing vindication from personal revenge: David asks God to reverse the attackers' design rather than taking vengeance into his own hands.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Verses 1 and 5 explicitly repeat the request for God to make haste, framing the entire psalm with urgency.
Scripture-supported
Psalm 40:13–17 supports the observation that most of Psalm 70 is a reused prayer, with small wording differences rather than a wholly new composition.
Strong inference
The contrast between 'Aha, aha' in verse 3 and 'Let God be magnified' in verse 4 strongly suggests two rival kinds of speech: gloating over harm and rejoicing in God.
Possible or traditional reading
Some readers treat the reuse from Psalm 40 as liturgical adaptation for communal worship, which is plausible, but Psalm 70 itself does not explain when or how the extraction occurred.
Limit
Psalm 70 does not identify the enemies, describe the danger, or promise a timetable for deliverance beyond the petitioner's urgent request.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. Where does the psalm place the word 'haste,' and what does that framing do?
What a good answer contains
At the very beginning and the very end. "Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD" (70:1), and "make haste unto me, O God" with "O LORD, make no tarrying" (70:5). The whole prayer sits inside a cry for speed. A good answer notices that the psalm does not explain the danger in detail: it lets the class feel the urgency first. A weak answer hurries past the repetition, which is the psalm's own way of saying how pressing the need is.
Show teacher guidance
Look at verses 1 and 5. The prayer is bracketed by urgency, so the class should hear time pressure before speculating about circumstances.
2. What does David ask to happen to those who seek his soul in verse 2?
What a good answer contains
That their plan fail and turn back on them. "Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt" (70:2). Ashamed and confounded means disappointed and thrown into disorder; turned backward is the picture of an attack driven off. A good answer notes that David asks God to do this, and asks for their schemes to be defeated, not for him to take revenge. A weak answer reads verse 2 as personal spite.
Show teacher guidance
He asks that they be ashamed, confounded, and turned backward. Keep the response in God's hands rather than converting it into a revenge plan.
3. Why is 'Aha, aha' worth noticing in verse 3?
What a good answer contains
Because it is the sound of people enjoying someone else's trouble. "Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha" (70:3). Aha is the jeer of the onlooker who is pleased at another's fall. A good answer sees that the psalm treats mockery as part of the attack, not a harmless reaction, and that their "reward" fits the shame they wanted for others. Compare Psalm 35:21, where the mockers say the same words. A weak answer treats it as a throwaway line.
Show teacher guidance
It is the sound of malicious satisfaction. The psalm treats gloating over another person's hurt as part of the opposition.
4. What speech replaces the enemies' taunt in verse 4?
What a good answer contains
Praise of God replaces mockery of man. "Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified" (70:4). The enemies say "Aha, aha"; God's people say "Let God be magnified". A good answer sees the contrast between two kinds of speech, and notices that this joy belongs to "all those that seek thee", not only to the one praying. Even in an emergency, David wants God made great by many voices.
Show teacher guidance
Those who seek God rejoice and say continually, 'Let God be magnified.' The verbal contrast is deliberate and easy to miss if verse 4 is rushed.
5. How can the speaker be 'poor and needy' and still confident enough to command attention?
What a good answer contains
Because his confidence rests on who God is, not on what he has. "But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer" (70:5). Poor and needy describes someone with no resources of his own. Yet he speaks boldly, because God has a name: help and deliverer. A good answer notes that need is not a barrier to prayer but the ground of it. A weak answer imagines that bold prayer requires a strong person.
Show teacher guidance
His need is real, but his confidence rests in God's identity as help and deliverer, not in the petitioner's resources.
6. What does the near-duplication of Psalm 40 teach about repeated prayers?
What a good answer contains
That a prayer can be prayed again. Psalm 70 repeats Psalm 40:13-17 almost word for word: compare "Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me" (40:13) with 70:1. Psalm 40 sets these words after thanksgiving; Psalm 70 lifts them out as a short emergency prayer. A good answer sees that faithful prayer does not have to be new, and that words already prayed can be used again when they fit. Jesus himself prayed "the same words" three times in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:44).
Show teacher guidance
It shows that faithful prayer does not require novelty. Words already prayed can be rightly reused when they truthfully fit the need.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Use the five verses to build a short emergency prayer that names urgency, rejects gloating, seeks God, and identifies him as help and deliverer.
Relationships and community
Use verse 3 to establish a communal rule against celebrating another person's collapse, even when that person is disliked or opposed.
Permission to reuse good words
Compare Psalm 70 with Psalm 40:13–17 and let learners see that prayer can be sincere without winning an originality contest.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
Hurry at both ends
Read 70:1 and 70:5 first, then the whole psalm. Ask question one and take confusion one.
Turned backward
Read 70:2-3. Ask questions two and three and take confusion three.
Aha or magnified
Read 70:4 beside 70:3 and ask question four.
Poor and needy
Read 70:5 and ask question five.
A prayer prayed again
Read Psalm 40:13-17 beside Psalm 70. Ask question six and take confusion two.
Handout and prayer
Hand out the sheet, read the key verse together, and pray Psalm 70 aloud as a group.
90 minutes
When there is no time
Ask the group what they pray when there is no time for many words. Take a few answers.
Make haste
Read the psalm twice. Ask question one and take confusion one with Luke 18:1-8.
Those who seek my soul
Read 70:2-3 and Psalm 35:21. Ask questions two and three and take confusion three with Matthew 5:44.
Let God be magnified
Read 70:4 and ask question four. Discuss how our words about others can mock or magnify.
My help and my deliverer
Read 70:5 and ask question five. Ask what poor and needy might mean beyond money.
Psalm 40 and Psalm 70
Read Psalm 40:13-17 beside Psalm 70 and mark the differences. Ask question six and take confusion two with Matthew 6:7 and 26:44.
Write a short prayer
Ask each person to write a five-line prayer for a present need, following the shape of Psalm 70.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line, and close by praying 70:5 together.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Teach hand signals as you read: a quick wave for hurry in verse 1, a hand pushing back for verse 2, arms raised for rejoice in verse 4, and open hands for help in verse 5. Explain that when we are scared or in trouble we can ask God to come quickly. Keep the enemies simple: people who wanted to hurt David.
Youth
Compare "Aha, aha" in verse 3 with "Let God be magnified" in verse 4. Talk about how comments, laughter and posts can either pile on someone in trouble or point people to God. Then read verse 5 and assure them that being poor and needy is exactly the place from which they can pray boldly.
Adults
Adults can set Psalm 70 beside Psalm 40:13-17 and study the small changes. Discuss the value of written and memorised prayers, and how they become ours when prayed truthfully. Spend time on verse 5 and on what it means to come to God with no resources, only need.
One to one
If the person is in a crisis with little time or energy to pray, give them Psalm 70 as their prayer. Read it with them slowly, then encourage them to pray it each morning this week. Verse 5 is enough when they have no other words. Pray it over them before you part.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Psalms 70:1–5
The passage in brief
Psalm 70 is a short, urgent prayer. David asks God to hurry and rescue him from people who want to hurt him and who laugh at his trouble. He asks that their plans fail. He prays that everyone who looks for God will be glad and keep saying how great God is. He ends by admitting he is poor and needy, and asks God, his help and deliverer, not to delay.
A verse to keep
But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.
Psalms 70:5 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What does David ask God to do quickly in 70:1 and 70:5?
What do God's people say in 70:4 instead of mocking?
What need of yours could you bring to God with the words of verse 5?
This week
Memorise verse 5 this week and pray it whenever you feel out of time or strength.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
