Psalms 108:12
in Psalms 108Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Give us help against the adversary; For vain is the help of man.
KJV
Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
⋯
This verse in Psalms 108
Commentary
8 notes on this verse"Give us help from tribulation." He did not say, "Give us help from delights," but "from tribulation." "To the Lord, when I was in tribulation, I cried out, and he heard me." He did not say, "when I was in delights I cried out," or "sleeping I cried out." Do you wish to be heard by the Lord? Be in tribulation: cry out, and you will be heard. If, then, anyone is not in tribulation, he cannot call upon the help of the Lord. "For vain is the salvation of man."
This site's exposition
bring me to the fortified city
on Psalms 108:10-13
The close is Psalm 60:9 to 12, and it opens with a question about the fortified city of Edom. Verse 11 asks whether God has rejected them and will no longer march, and verse 13 answers that with God they will trample the enemy. The help of man is worthless.
This site's exposition
the help of man is worthless
This is Psalm 60:11. Worthless translates shav, the empty and vain thing of Exodus 20:7, and the help of man is literally the salvation of man. Aid against the enemy comes from God, as verse 13 says.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): " Lord, give us help from trouble, prosper our designs, and defeat the designs of our enemies against us." It is not unseasonable to talk of trouble at the same time that we talk of triumphs, especially when it is to quicken prayer for help from heaven; and it is a good plea, Vain is the help of man.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
It intimates likewise that it is not only allowable, but sometimes convenient, to gather some verses out of one psalm and some out of another, and to put them together, to be sung to the glory of God. In singing this psalm we must give glory to God and take comfort to ourselves.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. This prayer has often fallen from the lips of men who have been bitterly disappointed by their fellows, and it has also been poured out unto the Lord in the presence of some gigantic labour in which mortal power is evidently of no avail. Edom cannot be entered by any human power, yet from its fastnesses the robber bands come rushing down; therefore, O Lord, do thou interpose and give thy people deliverance. Help divine is expected because help human is of no avail.
Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. This prayer has often fallen from the lips of men who have been bitterly disappointed by their fellows, and it has also been poured out unto the Lord in the presence of some gigantic labour in which mortal power is evidently of no avail. Edom cannot be entered by any human power, yet from its fastnesses the robber bands come rushing down; therefore, O Lord, do thou interpose and give thy people deliverance. Help divine is expected because help human is of no avail. We ought to pray with all the more confidence in God when our confidence in man is altogether gone. When the help of man is vain, we shall not find it vain to seek the help of God.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Give us help from trouble ... - This is copied from Psa 60:11.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Who will bring me in the time of the Messiah, to stretch forth my hand upon Esau in his fortified cities? He Who Who led us already upon Edom, that I smote them in the Valley of Salt, eighteen thousand.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הָֽבָה־ | havah- | give ! | H3051 → | 34 times |
| לָּ֣נוּ | lanu | to us | ||
| עֶזְרָ֣ת | ʾezrat | help | H5833 → | 26 times |
| מִצָּ֑ר | mitzar | from [the] foe | H6862 → | 109 times |
| וְ֝שָׁ֗וְא | veshav' | and [is] worthlessness | H7723 → | 53 times |
| תְּשׁוּעַ֥ת | teshuat | [the] deliverance of | H8668 → | 34 times |
| אָדָֽם׃ | ʾadam | humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
הָֽבָה־give !
havah-H3051 →34 times
לָּ֣נוּto us
lanu
עֶזְרָ֣תhelp
ʾezratH5833 →26 times
מִצָּ֑רfrom [the] foe
mitzarH6862 →109 times
וְ֝שָׁ֗וְאand [is] worthlessness
veshav'H7723 →53 times
תְּשׁוּעַ֥ת[the] deliverance of
teshuatH8668 →34 times
אָדָֽם׃humankind
ʾadamH120 →551 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 2:22Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:5
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
- Psalms 146:3
Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
- James 4:14
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
- Psalms 144:3–4
O LORD, what is man, that You regard him, the son of man that You think of him?
- Psalms 8:4
what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
- Jeremiah 17:5
Through
Isaiah 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…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 20:33–34
As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, with a strong hand, an outstretched arm, and outpoured wrath I will rule over you.
- Isaiah 9:17
Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite…
- Ezekiel 28:9
Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who slay you? You will be only a man, not a god, in the hands of those who wound you.
- Ezekiel 20:33–34
About Psalms
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 5; Jerome, Homily 34, on Psalm 107; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.