Psalm 70
I have prepared these psalms for our liturgy, trying to be as accurate in my translation as possible. The alternation between plain text and bold is for responsive reading. I invite feedback on the translation!
For the director.
By David.
For the memorial.
God, to rescue me,
Yahweh, to help me, hasten!
May they be shamed and confounded,
The ones who seek my soul.
May they shrink back and be disgraced,
The ones who wish me evil.
May they turn because of their shame,
The ones who say, “Aha! Aha!”
Let them be glad and rejoice in you,
All who seek you.
Let them say continually, “Great is God!,”
Those who love your salvation.
And I am oppressed and needy;
God, hasten to me!
My help and my deliverer you are;
Yahweh, do not delay.
A comment on the translation (which also, by the way, applies to Psalm 40, part of which is almost word-for-word what we have in Psalm 70):
Line 7: The expression seems to be “turn back on the heel(s) of their shame” (cf. Alter), but it is probably used, as most commentators think, to mean “because of, on account of their shame.”