gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
far
תִּרְחַ֣קtir.Chak
H7368
to widen (in any direction) · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
God
אֱ֝לֹהַ֗י'e.lo.Hai
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
haste
חֽוּשָׁהChu.shah
H2363
to hurry · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
help
לְעֶזְרָ֥תִיle.'ez.Ra.ti
H5833
aid · preposition + 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 35:22 This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.
Psalms 38:21-22 Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.
Psalms 22:11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
Psalms 10:1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
Psalms 69:18 Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.
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.
Psalms 22:19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
Psalms 40:13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 71:1-13
Two things in general David here prays for - that he might not be confounded and that his enemies and persecutors might be confounded.
I. He prays that he might never be made ashamed of his dependence upon God nor disappointed in his believing expectations from him. With this petition every true believer may come boldly to the throne of grace; for God will never disappoint the hope that is of his own raising. Now observe here,
1. How David professes his confidence in God, and with what pleasure and grateful variety of expression he repeats his profession of that confidence, still presenting the profession of it to God and pleading it with him. We praise God, and so please him, by telling him…
O God, be not far from me,.... God is everywhere, at hand and afar off, with regard to his being, power, and providence; his glorious presence is in heaven, his gracious presence is with his people; but, when he hides his face, he seems to be at a distance; and this they cannot bear, and therefore deprecate it; see Psalm 10:1;
O my God, make haste for my help; he knew that his help was in God, and that there was none for him elsewhere; and that he could help him when none else could, and was a present help in time of trouble; and it being such a time with him, and his case desperate, he desires the Lord that he would make haste; and he addresses him as his own God, the consideration of whic…
Psalm 71:9-13
9. Cast me not off in the time of my old age: forsake me not in the declining of my strength. 10. For my enemies have said of me, and those who watch for my life have taken counsel together, 11. Saying, God hath forsaken him; follow after him, and ye shall take him: for there is none to deliver him. 12. O God! be not far from me: my God: hasten to my aid. 13. Let those who are enemies to my life be confounded [108] and fail: let those who seek my hurt be covered with reproach and shame.
9. Cast me not off in the time of my old age. David having just now declared that God had been the protector of his life at his birth, and afterwards his foster-father in his childhood, and th…
The Church Fathers
"O Lord, my God, be not far from me." So it is, and the Lord is not far off at all. For, "The Lord is nigh unto them that have bruised the heart." "My God, unto my help look Thou." "Be they confounded and fail that engage my soul." What hath he desired? "Be they confounded and fail." Why hath he desired it? "That engage my soul"? What is, "That engage my soul"? Engaging as it were unto some quarrel. For they are said to be engaged that are challenged to quarrel. If then so it is, let us beware of men that engage our soul. What is, "That engage our soul"? First provoking us to withstand God, in order that in our evil things God may displease us. For when art thou right, so that to thee the God of Israel may be good, good to men right in heart? When art thou right? Wilt thou hear? When in that good which thou doest, God is pleasing to thee; but in that evil which thou sufferest, God is not displeasing to thee. See ye what I have said, brethren, and be ye on your guard against men that engage your souls. For all men that deal with you in order to make you be wearied in sorrows and tribulations, have this aim, namely, that God may be displeasing to you in that which ye suffer, and there may go forth from your mouth, "What is this? For what have I done?" Now then hast thou done nothing of evil, and art thou just, He unjust? A sinner I am, thou sayest, I confess, just I call not myself. But what, sinner, hast thou by any means done so much evil as he with whom it is well? As much as Gaiuseius? I know the evil doings of him, I know the iniquities of him, from which I, though a sinner, am very far; and yet I see him abounding in all good things, and I am suffering so great evil things. I do not then say, O God, "what have I done" to Thee, because I have done nothing at all of evil; but because I have not done so much as to deserve to suffer these things. Again, art thou just, He unjust? Wake up, wretched man, thy soul hath been engaged! I have not, he saith, called myself just. What then sayest thou? A sinner I am, but I did not commit so great sins, as to deserve to suffer these things. Thou sayest not then to God, just I am, and Thou art unjust: but thou sayest, unjust I am, but Thou art more unjust. Behold thy soul hath been engaged, behold now thy soul wageth war. What? Against whom? Thy soul, against God; that which hath been made against Him by whom it was…
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…
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).
Brought safely through dangers of every kind, he is become כּמופת, as a wonder, a miracle (Arabic aft from afata, cognate afaka, הפך, to bend, distort: a turning round, that which is turned round or wrenched, i.e., that which is contrary to what is usual and looked for) to many, who gaze upon him as such with astonishment (Psa 40:4). It is his God, however, to whom, as hitherto so also in time to come, he will look to be thus wonderfully preserved: מחסי־עז, as in Sa2 22:33. עז is a genitive, and the suffix is thrown back (vid., supra, p 171) in order that what God is to, and does for, the poet may be brought forward more clearly and independently [lit. unalloyed]. Psa 71:8 tells us what it i…
In their plotting, the psalmist’s enemies take counsel and scheme together (2:2; 21:11; 31:13; 35:4; 63:9-10).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 71:12
O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.
O God, be not far from me. Nearness to God is our conscious security. A child in the dark is comforted by grasping its father's hand. O my God, make haste for my help. To call God ours, as having entered into covenant with us, is a mighty plea in prayer, and a great stay to our faith. The cry of "make haste" has occurred many times in this portion of the Psalms, and it was evoked by the sore pressure of affliction. Sharp sorrows soon put an end to procrastinating prayers.
