Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Psalms 70:5 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 5. 5But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 70:5: The opening contrast in “But I am poor and needy” turns the argument of “An urgent plea for help.”
Read It With
- Psalms 70:1–5
Read Psalms 70:5 with 70:1–5. Read alone, “But I am poor and needy” could lose the individual voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 70:1–5, the individual voice carries the movement “An urgent plea for help” as part of “An urgent plea for help.” Its lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 70:1–5 opens Psalm 70 with “Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD” and establishes the individual voice and “An urgent plea for help” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 70:5 turns the movement by contrasting what precedes it with “But I am poor and needy.”
Follow the Context
- Identify the individual voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 70:1–5; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
- Within Psalms 70:1–5, the individual voice carries the movement “An urgent plea for help” as part of “An urgent plea for help.” Its lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
- This reading does not authorize the following misuse: This adaptation of Psalm 40:13–17 preserves urgency; repetition is liturgical reuse, not evidence that formulas control divine response.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Psalms 70:5 does not allow “But I am poor and needy” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse turns the movement by contrasting what precedes it with “But I am poor and needy.” The complete movement is “An urgent plea for help.” This reading does not authorize the following misuse: This adaptation of Psalm 40:13–17 preserves urgency; repetition is liturgical reuse, not evidence that formulas control divine response.
What Remains True
In “An urgent plea for help,” Psalm 70:5 turns the movement by contrasting what precedes it with “But I am poor and needy.” The resulting truth stays bounded by this movement: Praise and prayer become truthful when they attend to people harmed by predatory power and pursue protection, generosity, and fair judgment. The local movement is “An urgent plea for help.” The unit's reviewed limit is: This adaptation of Psalm 40:13–17 preserves urgency; repetition is liturgical reuse, not evidence that formulas control divine response.
How It Can Shape Life
- The practice should match “An urgent plea for help” rather than an isolated slogan. Psalm 70:5 turns the movement by contrasting what precedes it with “But I am poor and needy.” Therefore, Ask who is exposed or unheard in “But I am poor and needy”, then take one accountable step toward material help, fair process, or protection.
Teach It Back
Teach Psalm 70:5 by beginning with “But I am poor and needy.” Explain Psalm 70:5 turns the movement by contrasting what precedes it with “But I am poor and needy.” Then trace “An urgent plea for help” in Book II, name one source-controlled uncertainty, connect meaning to truth and practice, and reject this misuse: This reading does not authorize the following misuse: This adaptation of Psalm 40:13–17 preserves urgency; repetition is liturgical reuse, not evidence that formulas control divine response.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Psalms 70:1–5 — An urgent plea for helpSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
Where care is needed
This adaptation of Psalm 40:13–17 preserves urgency; repetition is liturgical reuse, not evidence that formulas control divine response.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 70:1–5, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 70:1–5
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 70:1–5.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 70 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 70:1–5
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: individual and communal lament, from lament to praise, and Bible in the World; applied to Psalms 70:1–5
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 70 for Psalms 70:1–5
Open NETS Psalms ↗peer reviewed open access research overview
An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms: Reformed and Evangelical Approaches to the Interpretation of Imprecatory Psalms
Daniel Simango and P. Paul Krüger
Old Testament Essays 29.3, 2016
Supports: Major historical, literary, covenantal, ethical, and reception approaches to curses and enemy language.
Exact location: Simango and Krüger, 'An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms,' OTE 29.3 (2016), pp. 581–600, complete approach survey; applied to Psalms 70:1–5
Open the imprecatory-psalm overview ↗peer reviewed open access literary and ethical study
Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words in the 21st century
Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford
Acta Theologica Supplementum 32, 2021
Supports: Imprecation retained as difficult prayer and communal speech without converting violent wishes into commands or erasing Jewish reception.
Exact location: deClaissé-Walford, 'Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words,' Acta Theologica Suppl. 32 (2021), pp. 275–292, especially literary, liturgical, trauma, and ethical proposal; applied to Psalms 70:1–5
Open deClaissé-Walford on imprecation ↗