O God, don’t stay away. My God, please hurry to help me.
Parallel translations
- WEB God, don’t be far from me. My God, hurry to help me.
- KJV O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.
- BSB Be not far from me, O God. Hurry, O my God, to help me.
- NKJV O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!
- NASB ¶God, do not be far from me; My God, hurry to my aid!
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
The psalmist begs God not to be far off but to hurry to help him. It is an urgent plea for God's nearness and speedy aid.
Overview
Against his enemies' claim that God has forsaken him, the psalmist cries for God to draw near and come quickly to his rescue. His prayer answers their taunt with renewed appeal to God. This plea that God not be far in the hour of need echoes the cries of the righteous, including Christ, who entrusted himself to the Father even in apparent abandonment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 38:21–22Don’t forsake me, Yahweh. My God, don’t be far from me.
- Ps 35:22You have seen it, Yahweh. Don’t keep silent. Lord, don’t be far from me.
- Ps 22:11Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near. For there is no one to help.
- Ps 10:1Why do you stand far off, Yahweh? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
- Ps 70:5But I am poor and needy. Come to me quickly, God. You are my help and my deliverer. Yahweh, don’t delay.
- Ps 69:18Draw near to my soul, and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies.
- Ps 40:13Be pleased, Yahweh, to deliver me. Hurry to help me, Yahweh.
- Ps 143:7Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
- Ps 70:1–2For the Chief Musician. By David. A reminder. Hurry, God, to deliver me. Come quickly to help me, Yahweh.
- Ps 22:19But don’t be far off, Yahweh. You are my help: hurry to help me.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 71:12 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.