71:15 I will tell about your justice,
and all day long proclaim your salvation, 1
though I cannot fathom its full extent. 2
71:16 I will come and tell about 3 the mighty acts of the sovereign Lord.
I will proclaim your justice – yours alone.
71:17 O God, you have taught me since I was young,
and I am still declaring 4 your amazing deeds.
71:18 Even when I am old and gray, 5
O God, do not abandon me,
until I tell the next generation about your strength,
and those coming after me about your power. 6
71:19 Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above; 7
you have done great things. 8
O God, who can compare to you? 9
1 tn Heb “my mouth declares your vindication, all the day your deliverance.”
2 tn Heb “though I do not know [the] numbers,” that is, the tally of God’s just and saving acts. HALOT 768 s.v. סְפֹרוֹת understands the plural noun to mean “the art of writing.”
3 tn Heb “I will come with.”
5 tn Heb “and until now I am declaring.”
7 tn Heb “and even unto old age and gray hair.”
8 tn Heb “until I declare your arm to a generation, to everyone who comes your power.” God’s “arm” here is an anthropomorphism that symbolizes his great strength.
9 tn Heb “your justice, O God, [is] unto the height.” The Hebrew term מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) is here a title for the sky/heavens.
10 tn Heb “you who have done great things.”
11 tn Or “Who is like you?”