An elderly psalmist pleads for God's continued protection and deliverance in old age. Enemies are circling, interpreting his frailty as evidence that God has abandoned him. The psalm is a sustained cry of trust from someone who has known God since birth and now refuses to believe the final chapter will be one of abandonment. It draws heavily on Psalm 31 and Psalm 22, weaving earlier language into a new plea shaped by the particular vulnerability of aging.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
This is one of the few psalms that explicitly addresses the experience of growing old. The psalmist does not pretend that age has not diminished him — he acknowledges that his strength is failing and his enemies see opportunity. But the theological argument is powerful: the God who sustained him from the womb (verse 6), who taught him from youth (verse 17), cannot logically abandon him now. The psalm turns aging itself into a theological argument. If God's faithfulness is real, it must extend to the end. The repeated phrase 'do not cast me off' (al-tashlikeni) carries the raw urgency of someone who has watched contemporaries die alone and fears the same fate.
Translation Friction
Psalm 71 has no superscription in the Hebrew text, which is unusual in Book II of the Psalter. The LXX attributes it to David and adds a note about the sons of Jonadab and the first captives. Its heavy borrowing from Psalm 31 and Psalm 22 has led some scholars to view it as a mosaic psalm — a composition assembled from existing psalmic language. This does not diminish its theological force; it may amplify it, as the psalmist deliberately reaches for the tradition's deepest language of trust in his hour of need.
Connections
Verses 1-3 closely parallel Psalm 31:2-4 (in Hebrew versification). The phrase 'from my mother's womb' (mi-beten immi) in verse 6 echoes Psalm 22:10-11, connecting this psalm to the larger tradition of lifelong divine care. The commitment to declare God's righteousness 'all day long' (kol hayyom) in verse 24 connects to the Psalter's broader theology of perpetual praise. The psalm's placement after Psalm 70 (a brief cry for help) creates a natural expansion — the short plea becomes a sustained meditation.
In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge —
let me never be put to shame.
KJV In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
Notes & Key Terms
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Key Terms
חָסִיתִיchasiti
"I have taken refuge"—to seek refuge, to take shelter, to trust for protection
From chasah, a verb that appears frequently in the Psalms to describe the act of fleeing to God as a protective shelter. The image is concrete — a person running to a fortress or hiding in the shadow of a rock. It implies both vulnerability and active choice.
Translator Notes
The near-verbatim overlap with Psalm 31:2 is intentional. The psalmist is quoting established liturgical language — reaching for words that have already been tested and proven in Israel's worship.
In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
turn Your ear toward me and save me.
KJV Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
Notes & Key Terms
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Key Terms
צִדְקָהtsidqah
"righteousness"—righteousness, justice, vindication, saving acts, right order
In the Psalms, God's tsidqah is not abstract moral perfection but active intervention on behalf of those who are in the right. To pray 'in Your righteousness deliver me' is to say: Your own character requires You to act.
Translator Notes
The verb palat ('to rescue, to cause to escape') implies being pulled out of a tight, dangerous space — the image is of extraction from a trap or a collapsing structure.
Be for me a rock of refuge,
a stronghold to enter continually.
You have commanded my deliverance,
for You are my rock and my fortress.
KJV Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Psalm 31:3 reads tsur maoz ('rock of strength') while this verse has tsur maon ('rock of refuge/habitation'). The one-letter difference (zayin vs. nun) may reflect textual variation, but the Masoretic text preserves maon, emphasizing dwelling rather than mere strength.
My God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and ruthless.
KJV Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word chomets ('ruthless, oppressive') literally means 'one who is sour, leavened' — the image is of someone whose character has fermented into cruelty. The three terms — rasha ('wicked'), me-avvel ('unjust'), and chomets ('ruthless') — paint a portrait of the psalmist's enemies as morally corrupt at every level.
For You are my hope, Lord GOD,
my trust since my youth.
KJV For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The pairing of Adonai YHVH ('Lord GOD') is relatively rare in the Psalms and signals particular solemnity. The psalmist addresses God by His covenant name combined with the title of sovereignty.
On You I have leaned from the womb;
from my mother's body You drew me out.
My praise is continually of You.
KJV By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb gazah is rare and debated. Some read it as 'my portion' (from a different root), but the context of birth imagery (beten, me'ei immi) strongly supports the meaning 'the one who cut me free' — referring to the severing of the umbilical cord at birth. This reading appears in the LXX (skepastes mou, 'my protector') by interpretive paraphrase.
I have become a sign to many,
but You are my strong refuge.
KJV I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word mofet appears in Exodus for the plagues (signs and wonders) and in Deuteronomy 28:46 for the curses that will become 'a sign and a wonder.' The psalmist's situation has become publicly visible and is being interpreted by observers — the question is whether they are reading it correctly.
Let my mouth be filled with Your praise,
all day long with Your splendor.
KJV Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The parallelism pairs tehillateka ('Your praise') with tif'artteka ('Your splendor, glory, beauty'). Praise here is not merely thanksgiving but declaration of God's magnificent character. The phrase kol hayyom ('all day long') echoes verse 24 and creates a frame of perpetual worship.
Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
when my strength is spent, do not abandon me.
KJV Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.
Notes & Key Terms
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Key Terms
זִקְנָהziqnah
"old age"—old age, elderhood, the condition of being aged
From zaqen ('to be old, to grow old'). In a culture that honored elders (Leviticus 19:32), the fear of being cast off in old age represents a profound social and theological crisis — it implies that the covenant of care has been broken.
Translator Notes
This verse has no parallel in Psalm 31, confirming that Psalm 71 is not merely a copy but an original composition shaped by the experience of aging. The plea against abandonment in old age is theologically distinctive in the Psalter.
For my enemies speak against me,
and those who watch for my life conspire together,
KJV For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase shomrei nafshi ('those who watch for my life') describes predators watching for the moment of vulnerability. They are not merely hostile; they are strategic, waiting for the right moment to strike — and old age provides it.
saying, 'God has abandoned him.
Pursue and seize him,
for there is no one to rescue him.'
KJV Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The enemies' statement mirrors the taunt against the sufferer in Psalm 22:9 and Psalm 3:3 — the recurring claim that God has withdrawn. The psalmist must contend not only with his enemies but with their theology.
O God, do not be far from me;
my God, hurry to help me!
KJV O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb chushah ('hurry, hasten') conveys desperation — the situation is urgent and delay could be fatal. This verse echoes Psalm 22:12 and 22:20, reinforcing the literary connections between these psalms.
Let those who accuse my life be shamed and consumed;
let those who seek my ruin
be wrapped in disgrace and humiliation.
KJV Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb ya'atu ('let them be wrapped, clothed') uses clothing imagery for shame — disgrace becomes a garment that covers them completely. The psalmist asks that the enemies' own weapon (public shame) be turned back upon them.
But I — I will hope continually,
and I will add still more to all Your praise.
KJV But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb yachal ('to hope, to wait') in the Psalms always implies patient endurance under pressure — not passive optimism but active, stubborn trust maintained against contrary evidence.
My mouth will declare Your righteousness,
all day long Your salvation,
for I cannot count them.
KJV My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word seforot ('numbers, reckonings') is rare and may also carry the sense of 'literary compositions' — the psalmist may be saying not only that he cannot count God's acts but that he lacks the literary skill to do them justice.
I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD;
I will declare Your righteousness — Yours alone.
KJV I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase gevurot Adonai YHVH ('mighty deeds of the Lord GOD') refers to God's powerful acts in history — not abstract power but demonstrated intervention. The emphasis levaddeka ('Yours alone') is exclusive: the psalmist credits no one else, no other god, no human agency.
O God, You have taught me from my youth,
and until now I have declared Your wonders.
KJV O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word nifl'ot ('wonders') refers to God's extraordinary, incomprehensible acts — the same word used for the Exodus miracles. The psalmist's personal experience of God is framed in the same language as Israel's national experience.
And even to old age and gray hair,
O God, do not abandon me,
until I declare Your arm to a generation,
Your power to all who are yet to come.
KJV Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.
Notes & Key Terms
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Key Terms
זְרוֹעַzero'a
"arm"—arm, strength, power, might — especially God's intervening power in history
The 'arm of the LORD' is one of the Hebrew Bible's most important metaphors for divine action. It appears in the Exodus narrative (Exodus 6:6), in the prophets (Isaiah 53:1), and throughout the Psalms. It means power applied — not potential but enacted.
Translator Notes
The argument that God should preserve the psalmist for the sake of future testimony is a recurring motif in the Psalms (cf. Psalm 6:6, 30:10, 88:11-13). The dead cannot praise God — therefore God has a vested interest in keeping His worshipers alive.
Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heights;
You who have done great things —
O God, who is like You?
KJV Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase mi kamokha is a declaration of incomparability that runs through Israel's worship from the Exodus to the Psalter. It is not philosophical monotheism but experiential — no other power has done what this God has done.
You who have made us see many and bitter troubles
will revive us again,
and from the depths of the earth
You will bring us up again.
KJV Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The Qere/Ketiv variation between singular and plural pronouns in this verse reflects textual uncertainty about whether the psalm is purely individual or has been adapted for communal use. The Masoretic Qere reads plural ('us'), suggesting liturgical adaptation.
Psalms 71:21
תֶּ֣רֶב גְּדֻלָּתִ֑י וְ֝תִסֹּ֗ב תְּנַחֲמֵֽנִי׃
You will increase my honor
and turn to comfort me.
KJV Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word gedullatai ('my greatness, my honor, my dignity') is significant for an elderly person whose enemies have declared him abandoned. God will not merely rescue him — God will restore his standing. The verb tissov ('You will turn around') suggests God turning back toward the psalmist with comfort after a season of apparent distance.
I also will praise You with the harp
for Your faithfulness, my God.
I will make music to You with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
KJV I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.
Notes & Key Terms
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Key Terms
קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵלQedosh Yisrael
"Holy One of Israel"—the set-apart one, the sacred one; God in His distinctive separateness from all creation
This title emphasizes God's otherness — His radical distinction from everything created. In Isaiah, it often appears in contexts of both judgment and redemption. Its use here connects the psalmist's personal experience to Israel's prophetic tradition.
Translator Notes
The nevel was a larger stringed instrument, possibly a type of angular harp, while the kinnor was the smaller lyre associated with David (1 Samuel 16:23). Together they represent full musical worship — the psalmist's response to deliverance will be public and artistic.
My lips will shout for joy when I make music to You —
my very life, which You have redeemed.
KJV My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb padita ('You have redeemed') uses the language of payment and liberation — padah means to buy back, to ransom, to liberate by paying a price. The psalmist's life has been purchased back from the grip of death and enemies.
My tongue also, all day long,
will murmur of Your righteousness,
for those who sought my ruin
have been shamed and disgraced.
KJV My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are brought to shame, for they are confounded, that seek my hurt.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The pairing of boshu ('they are ashamed') and chafru ('they are disgraced') is a standard Hebrew word pair for total public humiliation. The psalmist who feared being put to shame (verse 1) now sees that shame transferred to his enemies — the reversal is complete.