Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
O LORD, make haste to help me!
—Psalm 70:1
The 70th Psalm is nearly identical to the last five verses of the 40th Psalm. Isolating these verses to stand on their own gives them a distinct tone and message. The 70th Psalm is an urgent cry for help. Or, more in keeping with the spirt of this psalm, we might simply say it is “a cry.” To say it is “a cry” is to say everything we’ve said in saying that it is “an urgent cry for help.” A cry is for help. A cry is urgent. The 40th Psalm is a cry! John Goldingay provides a very good strict translation of the Hebrew.
God, to save me,
Yahweh, to my help, hurry!
The opening words in the ESV, “Make haste” are supplied by the translators. They are supplied in the first line being borrowed from the last line. The NRSV decided to borrow and supply the missing verb from the 40th Psalm.
Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
O LORD, make haste to help me!
That is an atrocious method for translation. It is the omission of the words “Be pleased” that is most notable and meaningful. Gone is any element of polite request. This is purely an urgent cry. To say that this cry for help is brief or concise is too neat and nice. Cries are not short to be neat and nice.
You likely understand experientially why it is a great mercy to have such a short cry in Scripture. This is a prayer that nearly all of God’s children have prayed. The only exceptions I can imagine are those who die very quickly, very young. The 70th Psalm is the 69th boiled down. If we boil it down even further to its base element in the furnace of affliction, it comes down to a solitary word and a punctuation mark—the exclamation “Help!” “Help” not with a question mark, but as an exclamation.
It seems to cute to call this a supplication. This is not a request. It is a cry. A cry is not a command, but it is near to one. Oh saints, what glory is this! You have a God not simply to whom you may bring your polite petitions. You have a God you may cry out to. Such is the boldness with which you may come to the throne of grace in Christ. “Help!” We know we may cry out so, because our King and Savior cried out as He bore condemnation in our stead, and He was heard.
“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:7–10).