properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
confounded
וְיַחְפְּרוּ֮ve.yach.pe.Ru
H2659
to blush · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine plural
seek
מְבַקְשֵׁ֪יme.vak.Shei
H1245
to search out (by any method · verb, piel active participle, masculine plural construct
soul
נַ֫פְשִׁ֥יnaf.Shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
turned
יִסֹּ֣גוּyi.So.gu
H5472
properly · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
backward
אָ֭חוֹר'A.chor
H268
the hinder part · noun, common masculine singular absolute
confusion
וְיִכָּלְמ֑וּve.yi.kal.Mu
H3637
properly · conjunction + verb, niphal, 3rd person masculine plural
desire
חֲ֝פֵצֵ֗יcha.fe.Tzei
H2655
pleased with · adjective, masculine plural construct
hurt
רָעָתִֽיra.'a.Ti
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 35:4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
Psalms 35:26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify t…
Isaiah 41:11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee s…
Psalms 71:13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
Psalms 109:29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
John 18:6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.
Psalms 6:10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.
Isaiah 28:13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 70:1–end
The title tells us that this psalm was designed to bring to remembrance; that is, to put God in remembrance of his mercy and promises (for so we are said to do when we pray to him and plead with him. Isa 43:26, Put me in remembrance) - not that the Eternal Mind needs a remembrancer, but this honour he is pleased to put upon the prayer of faith. Or, rather, to put himself and others in remembrance of former afflictions, that we may never be secure, but always in expectation of troubles, and of former devotions, that when the clouds return after the rain we may have recourse to the same means which we have formerly found effectual for fetching in comfort and relief. We may in prayer use the wo…
Let them be ashamed and confounded,.... In Psalm 40:14 it is added, "together"; See Gill on Psalm 40:14;
that seek after my soul; or "life"; in Psalm 40:14 it is added, "to destroy it"; for that was the end of their seeking after it;
let them be turned backward, &c. See Gill on Psalm 40:14.
John Calvin on Psalms 70:1–end
Psalm 70:1-5
1. O God! make haste to deliver me: O Jehovah! hasten to my help. 2. Let those who seek my life be ashamed and confounded; let those who desire my hurt be turned backward, and put to confusion 3. Let those who say to me, Aha! aha! perish as a reward of their shame. 4. Let all those who seek thee rejoice and exult in thee: let those who love thy salvation say, Let God be magnified for evermore! 5. As for me, I am poor and needy: O God! hasten to me: thou art my help and my deliverer: O Jehovah! make no delay.
Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 70:1-3
We see at once at the very beginning, in the omission of the רצה (Psa 40:14), that what we have here before us is a fragment of Ps 40, and perhaps a fragment that only accidentally came to have an independent existence. The להצּילני, which was under the government of רצה, now belongs to הוּשׁה, and the construction is without example elsewhere. In Psa 70:3 (= Psa 40:15) יחד and לספּותהּ are given up entirely; the original is more full-toned and soaring. Instead of ישׁמּוּ, torpescant, Psa 70:4 has ישׁוּבוּ, recedant (as in Ps 6:11, cf. Psa 9:18), which is all the more flat for coming after יסגו אחור. In Psa 70:4, after ויאמרים the לי, which cannot here (cf. on the contrary, Psa 35:21) be dis…
The Church Fathers
"Let them be turned away backward and blush that think evil things to me" [Psalm 70:2]. At first there was the assault of them persecuting, now there hath remained the malice of them thinking. In fact, there are in the Church distinct seasons of persecutions following one another. There was made an assault on the Church when kings were persecuting: and because kings had been foretold as to persecute and as to believe, when one had been fulfilled the other was to follow. There came to pass also that which was consequent; kings believed, peace was given to the Church, the Church began to be set in the highest place of dignity, even on this earth, even in this life: but there is not wanting the roar of persecutors, they have turned their assaults into thoughts. In these thoughts, as in a bottomless pit, the devil hath been bound, he roareth and breaketh not forth. For it hath been said concerning these times of the Church, "The sinner shall see, and shall be angry." And shall do what? That which he did at first? Drag, bind, smite? He doeth not this. What then? "With his teeth he shall gnash, and shall pine away." And with these men the Martyr is, as it were, angry, and yet for these men the Martyr prayeth. For in like manner as he hath wished well to those men concerning whom he hath said, "Let them be confounded and fear that seek my soul:" so also now, "Let them be turned backward, and blush, that think evil things to me." Wherefore? In order that they may not go before, but follow. For he that censureth the Christian religion, and on his own system willeth to live, willeth as it were to go before Christ, as though He indeed had erred and had been weak and infirm, because He either willed to suffer or could suffer in the hands of the Jews; but that he is a clever man for guarding against all these things; in shunning death, even in basely lying to escape death, and slaying his soul that he may live in body, he thinketh himself a man of singular and prudent measures. He goeth before in censuring Christ, in a manner he outstrippeth Christ: let him believe in Christ, and follow Christ. For that which had been desired but now for persecutors thinking evil things, the same the Lord Himself said to Peter. Now in a certain place Peter willed to go before the Lord. ...A little before, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Malice · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Ps 70 This psalm, nearly identical to 40:13-17, contains an urgency (70:1, 5) that fits with the surrounding psalms (cp. 69:17; 71:12).
70:title asking God to remember him: The meaning of this phrase is unknown (also found in 38:title).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 70:2
Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.
Here the words, "together, "and, "to destroy it, "which occur in Psalm 40, are omitted: a man in haste uses no more words than are actually necessary. His enemies desired to put his faith to shame, and he eagerly entreats that they may be disappointed, and themselves covered with confusion. It shall certainly be so; if not sooner, yet at that dread day when the wicked shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt. Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt: turned back and d…
