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Journey of a Passage

Psalm 70:1

One prayer in two psalms: 70:1 and 40:13

Psalm 70 is Psalm 40:13–17 as a psalm of its own. Its first line lacks Psalm 40's "Be pleased, O LORD," and has "God" where 40:13 has "LORD." Further down, the divine names change in both directions.

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The psalm as first composedPsalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
  3. Psalm 40:13 (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Psalter
Latin
  1. Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)c. AD 386–392, revised from the GreekTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
  2. Psalm 40:13 (King James Bible)1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Psalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)

      The psalm as first composed

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. About forty Psalms manuscripts from Qumran, Masada and Nahal Hever (c. 2nd century BC – 1st century AD) are the oldest copies.

    2. c. AD 386–392, revised from the Greek

      Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Deus, in adjutorium meum intende; Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.

      Latin numbering: Psalm 69:2. Jerome revised this Latin Psalter from the Greek, so it is a witness to the Greek, not to the Hebrew.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      אֱלֹהִ֥ים לְהַצִּילֵ֑נִי יְ֝הוָ֗ה לְעֶזְרָ֥תִי חֽוּשָֽׁה׃

      O God, to deliver me; O LORD, to my help make haste

      Hebrew numbering: Psalm 70:2. Hebrew 70:2.

    4. AD 1008

      Psalm 40:13 (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      רְצֵ֣ה יְ֭הוָה לְהַצִּילֵ֑נִי יְ֝הוָ֗ה לְעֶזְרָ֥תִי חֽוּשָׁה׃

      Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me

      Hebrew 40:14 (English 40:13).

    5. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord.

    6. 1611

      Psalm 40:13 (King James Bible)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me.

    7. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

      Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Psalter

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      O Dieu, venez à mon aide; Seigneur, hâtez-vous de me secourir.

      Greek numbering: Psalm 69:2. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text; not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition.

    What changed, and why

    Compare 70:1 "O God, to deliver me; O LORD, to help me make haste" with 40:13 "Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, to help me make haste." Most of the remaining verses match closely, with the differences listed in the Psalm 70 lesson. The parallel shows literary reuse within the Psalter, adapted for a new collection.

    "Deus, in adjutorium meum intende" (Vulgate 69:2) opens every hour of the Christian daily office.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documented70:1 lacks "Be pleased" and has "God" for 40:13's first "LORD."

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Psalm 70: Make Haste to Help Me →"To bring to remembrance." "Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD. Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul… 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. But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying." Five verses, nearly identical to Psalm 40:13–17.
      • Psalm 40: I Waited Patiently →"I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock… And he hath put a new song in my mouth." "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened… Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will." Then the psalm turns to urgent lament; its last five verses reappear as Psalm 70.