Bible Strands
Psalms 108:12
Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God directly, pleading for military intervention after asking if God has rejected His armies. The request occurs during a national crisis where human allies have proven inadequate.
The words — The Hebrew term שָׁוְא (shav) literally means worthlessness or vanity, paired with תְּשׁוּעַת אָדָם (teshuat adam), "deliverance of man." The syntax contrasts the futility of human rescue with the necessity of divine aid.
The thread — This warning against human reliance appears in Jeremiah 17:5, Psalm 146:3, and Isaiah 2:22, all declaring mortal strength insufficient for salvation. The psalmist explicitly joins this prophetic pattern that displaces trust from flesh to God.
Why it lands — The verse demands a deliberate transfer of reliance from human resources to divine action. It requires the reader to acknowledge human limitation and actively seek God’s intervention in conflict.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 17:5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes mere 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.
- Isaiah 2:22 Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
- Isaiah 31:3 But 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 together.
- Lamentations 4:17 All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.
- Psalms 20:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
- Isaiah 30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.
- Job 16:2 “I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.
- Job 9:13 God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.