Psalms 71:11-21

11 Saying, God hath forsaken him; pursue ye, and take him; for none there is that shall deliver. (And they said, God hath deserted him; pursue ye after him, and take hold of him; for there is no one who will save him.)

12 God, be thou not made afar from me; my God, behold thou into mine help. (God, be thou not made far away from me; my God, hasten thou to help me.)

13 Men that backbite my soul, be shamed, and fail they; and be they covered with reproof and shame, that seek evils to me. (Let those who backbite me be shamed, and fail they; let those who seek evil for me, be covered with reproach and shame.)

14 But I shall hope ever[more]; and I shall add to ever over all thy praising. (But I shall have hope in thee forevermore; and I shall praise thee more and more.)

15 My mouth shall tell thy rightfulness; all day thine health. For I knew not (by) literature, that is, by man's teaching, but by God's revelation, (My mouth shall tell out thy righteousness; and thy salvation, or thy deliverance, all day long. For I know not by literature, that is, by man's teaching, or by reading and study, but by the revelation of God.)

16 I shall enter into the powers of the Lord; Lord, I shall bethink on thy rightfulness alone. (I shall walk in the Lord's strength; I shall tell out thy righteousness, thine alone.)

17 God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and till to now; I shall tell out thy marvels. (God, thou hast taught me from my youth; and I have told out all thy marvellous deeds.)

18 And till into eld (age)/into oldness, and the last age; God, forsake thou not me. Till I tell thine arm, or power, to each generation that shall come. (And now in my old age, and in the last moments; O God, do not thou desert, or abandon, me. And I shall tell of thy power, or of thy might, to each generation yet to come.)

19 Till I tell (of) thy might, and thy rightfulness, God, till into the highest great deeds which thou hast done; God, who is like thee? (Yea, until I tell of thy might, or of thy power, and thy righteousness, O God; and of the greatest deeds which thou hast done! O God, who is like thee!)

20 How great tribulations, many and evil, hast thou showed to me; and thou converted, hast quickened me, and hast again-brought me again from the depths of earth. (What great troubles, many and evil, thou hast sent me! and then turned, thou hast granted me life, and hast brought me up again from the watery depths of the earth/and hast brought me up again from the grave.)

21 Thou hast multiplied thy great doing; and thou converted (and thou turned), hast comforted me.

Psalms 71:11-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 71

This psalm is without a title, but is thought to be David's: the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, and all the Oriental ones, ascribe it to him; and both the subject and style show it to be his. According to the title of the Syriac version, it was composed by him when Saul made war against the house of David; but this is not likely, since it was written by him in his old age, Ps 71:9,18; rather, according to Kimchi and Arama, it was penned when he fled from his son Absalom: there are several things in it which incline to this. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions call it

``A Psalm of David, of the sons of Jonadab, and of the first that were carried captive;''

and so the Ethiopic and Arabic versions. Apollinarius says the sons of Jonadab composed it; but without any foundation for it; and the Syriac version is, it is a prophecy concerning the sufferings and resurrection of the Messiah; and so Jerom and others interpret it. The literal meaning respecting David seems best, though it may be applied to the church, and to any believer in distress. Theodoret thinks it was written by David in the person of the captives in Babylon.