Let All Who Seek You Rejoice and Be Glad in You

Psalm 70 is an urgent, almost breathless prayer. King David does not open with a long introduction; he cries out straight to the heart of the matter — "Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD." The word "make haste" opens and seals the psalm, giving it a powerful sense of urgency, the voice of one who needs salvation now. The whole psalm is built on a contrast: on one side, those who seek his life, whom David asks to be shamed and turned back; on the other, all who seek God, whom David asks to rejoice and be glad and to say continually, "Let God be magnified." Thus, even out of distress and pursuit, the psalm turns toward joy and toward the confidence that salvation is near. This chapter closely echoes the closing of Psalm 40, a prayer of distress that is entirely a plea for nearness and rescue.

The verse that carries the song's name, and is the heart of the psalm, is the great cry of joy:

"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"

Against the enemies who desire his harm, David sets those who seek God — those whose joy does not depend on victory over the enemy, but on God Himself. Their joy is a continual praise, "Let God be magnified," and it turns one person's prayer into the song of all who love His salvation. Precisely out of the urgent cry rises this voice of joy — trust in God comes before salvation itself and does not wait for it.

This chapter is part of the great journey of the project: to compose, with God's help, the entire Book of Psalms in a diverse, emotional, Jewish, uplifting musical language.