Psalms 71:11

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Saying, "God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for no one will rescue him."

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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וְ֝תִפְשׂ֗וּהוּ

tâphas

H8610

“and · seize · him”

Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 65× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 4:21

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 2538

to catch, handle, lay hold, take hold of, seize, wield - (Qal) - to lay hold of, seize, arrest, catch - to grasp (in order to) wield, wield, use skilfully - (Niphal) to be seized, be arrested, be caught, be taken, captured - (Piel) to catch, grasp (with the hands)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

8: words
8: distinct lemmas
Wisdom: section

Grammatical profile

5 verbs
1 noun
1 conjunction
1 particle

Verb forms

לֵ֭אמֹר Qal · Infinitive Construct
עֲזָב֑וֹ Qal · Perfect
רִֽדְפ֥וּ Qal · Imperative
וְ֝תִפְשׂ֗וּהוּ Qal · Imperative
מַצִּֽיל Hiphil · Participle Active

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 17 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 8 Hebrew tokens and 15 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Psalms 71:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Psalms 7:2 Lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, Ripping it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
Psalms 3:2 Many there are who say of my soul, "There is no help for him in God." Selah.
Psalms 50:22 "Now consider this, you who forget God, Lest I tear you into pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Matthew 27:46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?" That is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
2 Chronicles 32:13–14 Don't you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands in any wise able to deliver their land out of my hand?
Psalms 37:25 I have been young, and now am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his children begging for bread.
Psalms 37:28 For Yahweh loves justice, And doesn't forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, But the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
Psalms 41:7–8 All who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine the worst for me.

Psalms 42:10 As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, While they continually ask me, "Where is your God?"
Daniel 3:15 Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to you fall down and worship the image which I have made, [well]: but if you don't worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands?
Matthew 27:42–43 "He saved others, but he can't save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.
Matthew 27:49 The rest said, "Let him be. Let's see whether Elijah comes to save him."

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

You’re reading Greek Psalm 70 (Hebrew Psalm 71). The Septuagint counts the superscription, so verse numbers can differ from the Hebrew — chapter-level alignment, not verse-by-verse. Numbering follows Rahlfs.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Psalms 71:11 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

לֵ֭אמֹר אֱלֹהִ֣ים עֲזָב֑וֹ רִֽדְפ֥וּ וְ֝תִפְשׂ֗וּהוּ כִּי אֵ֥ין מַצִּֽיל

Saying, "God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for no one will rescue him."

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Greek Psalm 70:11 Septuagint · lemma form

λέγω ὁ θεός ἐν καταλείπω αὐτός καταδιώκω καί καταλαμβάνω αὐτός ὅτι οὐ εἰμί ὁ ῥύομαι

saying, God has forsaken him: persecute you⌃ and take him; for there is none to deliver him.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on Psalms 71:11 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Psa 71:11 Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for [there is] none to deliver [him].

Ver. 11. God hath forsaken him] For his late sin against Uriah; and as may appear by his present distress, his forlorn proscribed condition.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. A. Alexander on Psalms

Joseph Addison Alexander

Psa 71:11. Saying, God hath forsaken him, pursue and seize him, for there is no deliverer, literally none delivering. This verse is an amplification of the phrase they say (so) in the verse preceding. It gives the very words in which they say so. With the first clause compare Psa 3:2; Psa 41:5, and the words of Ahithophel in 2Sa 17:1-2, to which there may be a direct allusion, as an actual instance of the thing ideally described in David's own experience. With the last clause compare Psa 7:2.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Thus the wicked both blaspheme God, and triumph against his Saints, as though he had forsaken them, if he suffer them to fall into their hands.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 11. God hath forsaken him] "God, who has been his special help all through life, and who has guarded him so that no hand could be raised successfully against him, has now cast him off; therefore we shall easily prevail against him. His present adversity shows that God is no longer his friend." Thus men judge. "Secular prosperity is a proof of God's favour: adversity is a proof of his displeasure." But this is not God's way, except in especial judgments, &c. He never manifests his pleasure or displeasure by secular good or ill.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

11. God hath forsaken him] Cp. Psa_22:1; Psa_38:21 b.

persecute] R.V. pursue. But cp. Psa_69:26; Jer_15:15; Jer_17:18; Jer_20:11.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Saying, God hath forsaken him,.... Good men may seem to others to be forsaken of God; and they themselves may sometimes think they are; and they may be forsaken for a small moment, when God withdraws his gracious presence, or does not afford immediate help; but never finally and totally. This David's enemies concluded, from the distressed condition he was in, being obliged to leave his family and court, and flee from his son, and wander up and down with a small retinue; and this they said to one another, to encourage themselves to lay violent hands upon him, which they thought they might do with ease and impunity; wherefore it follows,

persecute and take him; pursue after him eagerly and diligently; lose no time; and, when come up to him, seize upon him, without any fear of God or man;

for there is none to deliver him; out of our hands. God will not, for he has forsaken him; and men cannot, for he has not an army sufficient to defend him or recover him.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Saying, God hath forsaken him - That is, God has given him over; he no longer protects him; he regards him as a wicked man, and we shall therefore, not only be “safe” in our attempts upon his life, but we shall be “justified” in those attempts.

Persecute and take him - It can be done safely now; it can be done with propriety.

For there is none to deliver him - He has no one now to whom to look; no one on whom he can rely. Abandoned by God and by man, he will be an easy prey. Compare the notes at Psa 41:7-8.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

God hath forsaken him, for his adultery, and murder, and other wickednesses, and therefore we shall certainly prevail against him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Treasury of David

Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 11. Saying, God hath forsaken him. O bitter taunt! There is no worse arrow in all the quivers of hell. Our Lord felt this barbed shaft, and it is no marvel if his disciples feel the same. Were this exclamation the truth, it were indeed an ill day for us; but, glory be to God, it is a barefaced lie.

Persecute and take him. Let loose the dogs of persecution upon him, seize him, worry him,

for there is none to deliver him. Down with him, for he has no friends. It is safe to insult him, for none will come to his rescue. O cowardly boasts of a braggart foe, how do ye wound the soul of the believer: and only when his faith cries to his Lord is he able to endure your cruelty.

Ver. 11. All kinds of distresses are obnoxious to the worst of misjudgings from malevolent minds. The sufferings of Christ produced this censorious scoff, "Let God deliver him, if he will have him." (Mt 27:43.) David's trouble easily induced his adversaries to conclude that God had forsaken him, and that there was none to deliver him. But in troubles of this nature, where especially there are frightful complainings against themselves, men are more easily drawn out to be peremptory in their uncharitable judgments concerning them, because the trouble itself is somewhat rare, and apt to beget hideous impressions, and, withal, the vent which the afflicted parties give by their bemoaning of their estate, in hope to ease themselves thereby, is but taken as a testimony against themselves and the undoubted echoes of their real feelings. Richard Gilpin (1625-1700), in "Daemonologia Sacra; or, a Treatise of Satan's Temptations." (In Nichols Series of Puritan Divines.)

Ver. 11-12. Two great lies and two sweet prayers.

Psalms 71:12*

Ver. 11-12. Two great lies and two sweet prayers.

Psalms 71:13*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

11. Saying, God hath forsaken him—This his enemies reported of him, and thus they reasoned that if God had withdrawn his protection they could attack him with impunity and make him a prey. But they did not penetrate the deep designs of God connected with his marvellous history, and did not consider they were fighting against God. See on Mat_27:43, and Act_5:38-39

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him. Compare the words of Ahithophel, "Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue alter David this night; and I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed; and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only". (2Sa_17:1, 2Sa_17:2) It no doubt appeared to Absalom"s party generally, as it did to Shimei, that God had "forsakes" David, and turned against him. (2Sa_16:8)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Psalms, in the Wisdom, opens this verse with 8 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is tâphas (“to seize”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to seize” (tâphas) shape what this verse is saying?
Psalms 7:2 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «לֵ֭אמֹר» is Qal Infinitive Construct. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and J. A. Alexander on Psalms read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 15 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 12 words in this verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.