Bible Strands
Psalms 72:12
For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A worshipper prays for the king (or messianic figure) within a series of petitions for his just rule, between the nations bowing (v. 11) and his pity on the poor (v. 13).
The words — אֶבְיֹון ('ev.Yon) denotes acute destitution, a step beyond the ordinary poverty of 'ani who follows it; עֹזֵר ('ozer) is the helper whose absence is the verse's pivot.
The thread — Job 29:12 mirrors the pair almost verbatim: "the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper." Psalms 102:17 extends the same logic to God's response to the destitute's prayer.
Why it lands — The verse defines righteous rule by a single criterion: what happens to those who have exhausted every human avenue of help. It asks the reader to name who in their world has no helper and to treat that absence as the measure by which they are judged.
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
For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.
Cross-references
- Job 29:12 because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.
- Psalms 102:17 He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.
- Revelation 3:17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
- Psalms 10:17 You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,
- Ecclesiastes 4:1 Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.
- Hebrews 7:25 Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
- Psalms 82:3 Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.
- Isaiah 41:17 The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
- Psalms 72:4 May he vindicate the afflicted among the people; may he save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.
- Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,