Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless.
Parallel translations
- WEB Give us help against the adversary, for the help of man is vain.
- KJV Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
- NKJV Give us help from trouble, For the help of man is useless.
- NASB Oh give us help against the enemy, For rescue by man is worthless.
- NLT Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human help is useless.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David pleads for God's help against the foe, confessing that human help is worthless. It locates true deliverance in God alone.
Overview
David asks God for aid, plainly stating that the help of man is vain. He renounces reliance on human strength and casts himself wholly on God. This confession reflects the consistent biblical conviction that salvation belongs to the Lord, not to human power.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 146:3Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
- Ps 108:12Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless.
- Ps 130:8And He will redeem Israel from all iniquity.
- Ps 124:1–3A song of ascents. Of David. If the LORD had not been on our side—let Israel now declare—
- Isa 30:7Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.
- Ps 62:1For the choirmaster. According to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. In God alone my soul finds rest; my salvation comes from Him.
- Isa 31:3But the Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and the one he helps will fall; both will perish together.
- Ps 25:22Redeem Israel, O God, from all its distress.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 60:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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