Psalms 71:1-24

  • The confidence of old ones

    • Trusting in God since youth (5)

    • “When my strength fails” (9)

    • ‘God has taught me from youth’ (17)

71  In you, O Jehovah, I have taken refuge. May I never be put to shame.+  2  In your righteousness save me and rescue me. Incline your ear* to me and save me.+  3  Become for me a rock fortressWhere I can always enter. Give the command to save me,For you are my crag and my stronghold.+  4  O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked,+From the grasp of the unjust oppressor.  5  For you are my hope, O Sovereign Lord Jehovah;I have trusted in you* since my youth.+  6  I have depended on you from birth;It was you who took me from my mother’s womb.+ I praise you constantly.  7  I have become like a miracle to many,But you are my strong refuge.  8  My mouth is filled with your praise;+All day long I tell about your splendor.  9  Do not cast me off in my old age;+Do not abandon me when my strength fails.+ 10  My enemies speak against me,And those seeking to take my life* conspire together,+ 11  Saying: “God has abandoned him. Chase after him and seize him, for there is no one to save him.”+ 12  O God, do not remain far away from me. O my God, hurry to help me.+ 13  May those who are resisting me*Be put to shame and perish.+ May those seeking my calamityBe covered with disgrace and humiliation.+ 14  But as for me, I will continue to wait;I will add to your praise. 15  My mouth will recount your righteousness,+All day long your acts of salvation,Though they are too many for me to grasp.*+ 16  I will come and tell about your mighty acts,O Sovereign Lord Jehovah;I will mention your righteousness, yours alone. 17  O God, you have taught me from my youth,+And until now I keep declaring your wonderful works.+ 18  Even when I am old and gray, O God, do not abandon me.+ Let me tell the next generation about your power*And about your mightiness to all those who are to come.+ 19  Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heights;+You have done great things;O God, who is like you?+ 20  Though you have made me experience much distress and calamity,+Revive me again;Bring me up from the depths* of the earth.+ 21  May you increase my greatnessAnd surround and comfort me. 22  Then I will praise you on a stringed instrumentBecause of your faithfulness, O my God.+ I will sing your praises* with the harp,O Holy One of Israel. 23  My lips will shout joyfully as I sing praises to you,+For you have saved my life.*+ 24  My tongue will speak about* your righteousness all day long,+For those seeking my destruction will be ashamed and disgraced.+

Footnotes

^ Or “Bend down and listen.”
^ Or “You are my confidence.”
^ Or “seeking my soul.”
^ Or “my soul.”
^ Or “number.”
^ Lit., “arm.”
^ Or “watery deeps.”
^ Or “make music to you.”
^ Or “redeemed my soul.”
^ Or “meditate on.”