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Psalm 108:12

Give us help against the enemy, for the help of man is vain.

10Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?
11Haven’t you rejected us, God? You don’t go out, God, with our armies.
12Give us help against the enemy, for the help of man is vain.
13Through God, we will do valiantly, for it is he who will tread down our enemies.
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← Psalm 108:11Psalm 108:13 →
Notice

The plea for help comes from an army facing enemies, where human strength offers no assurance of victory and God’s absence is feared.

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What changes in your reading when you hear this as an army’s plea for God’s help?

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Where might you be asking human help to provide an assurance it cannot give?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 146:3Don’t put your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no help.Both passages question reliance on human help, with Psalm 146 naming princes among those who cannot bear that trust.
Psalm 60:11Give us help against the adversary, for the help of man is vain.Both prayers ask God for help against an opponent and give the same reason: “for the help of man is vain.”
Jeremiah 17:5–8The LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from the LORD.Both texts challenge trust in human strength; Jeremiah names the danger of a heart departing from the LORD.
Psalm 9:9The LORD will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.Psalm 108 asks God for help against an enemy; Psalm 9 names the LORD as refuge for the oppressed.
Isaiah 31:3Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble, and he …Both passages expose the limits of human military help, with Isaiah naming Egypt’s men and horses as vulnerable before God.
Lamentations 4:17Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help. In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.Both describe human help as vain, with Lamentations recalling the failed hope that another nation could save.
Isaiah 2:22Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he?Both challenge confidence in human help, with Isaiah pointing to the fragile breath of the person being trusted.
Isaiah 30:3–5Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.Both passages question reliance on human strength, with Isaiah naming Pharaoh’s protection as a source of shame.
Mark 5:26and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse,The shared thread is failed human help: military help in the psalm, and unsuccessful treatment in this woman’s account.
Job 16:2“I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters!Both speak of inadequate human help, though Job’s complaint concerns his comforters rather than aid against an enemy.
Luke 8:43A woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians and could not be healed by any,Both describe human help reaching its limits; Luke records one woman’s long illness that physicians had been unable to heal.
Where this verse fits

Fear for the future. feeling distant from God. wanting a steady prayer habit.

What the Bible says about fear →What the Bible says about doubt →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Pray Psalm 108:12 before one difficult task this week

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Encouragement

Even after asking whether God has rejected them, the people still ask him for help. Their lack of strength has not ended their appeal to God.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 108:12. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 108 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).