Psalms 71:1-11

Psalm 71 ¹ 

71:1 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter!

Never let me be humiliated!

71:2 Vindicate me by rescuing me! ² 

Listen to me! ³  Deliver me! ⁴ 

71:3 Be my protector and refuge, ⁵ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ⁶ 

For you are my high ridge ⁷  and my stronghold.

71:4 My God, rescue me from the power ⁸  of the wicked,

from the hand of the cruel oppressor!

71:5 For you give me confidence, ⁹  O Lord;

O Lord, I have trusted in you since I was young. ¹⁰ 

71:6 I have leaned on you since birth; ¹¹ 

you pulled me ¹²  from my mother’s womb.

I praise you continually. ¹³ 

71:7 Many are appalled when they see me, ¹⁴ 

but you are my secure shelter.

71:8 I praise you constantly

and speak of your splendor all day long. ¹⁵ 

71:9 Do not reject me in my old age! ¹⁶ 

When my strength fails, do not abandon me!

71:10 For my enemies talk about me;

those waiting for a chance to kill me plot my demise. ¹⁷ 

71:11 They say, ¹⁸  “God has abandoned him.

Run and seize him, for there is no one who will rescue him!”

[71:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 71. The psalmist prays for divine intervention and expresses his confidence that God will protect and vindicate him. The first three verses are very similar to Ps 31:1-3a.

[71:2]  ² tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me and deliver me.” Ps 31:1 omits “and deliver me.”

[71:2]  ³ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[71:2]  ⁴ tn Ps 31:2 adds “quickly” before “deliver.”

[71:3]  ⁵ tc Heb “become for me a rocky summit of a dwelling place.” The Hebrew term מָעוֹן (ma’on, “dwelling place”) should probably be emended to מָעוֹז (ma’oz, “refuge”; see Ps 31:2).

[71:3]  ⁶ tc Heb “to enter continually, you commanded to deliver me.” The Hebrew phrase לָבוֹא תָּמִיד צִוִּיתָ (lavo’ tamid tsivvita, “to enter continually, you commanded”) should be emended to לְבֵית מְצוּדוֹת (lÿvet mÿtsudot, “a house of strongholds”; see Ps 31:2).

[71:3]  ⁷ sn You are my high ridge. This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.

[71:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “hand.”

[71:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “for you [are] my hope.”

[71:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “O Lord, my source of confidence from my youth.”

[71:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the womb.”

[71:6]  ¹² tc The form in the MT is derived from גָזָה (gazah, “to cut off”), perhaps picturing God as the one who severed the psalmist’s umbilical cord. Many interpreters and translators prefer to emend the text to גֹחִי (gokhiy), from גוּח (gukh) or גִיח, (gikh, “pull out”; see Ps 22:9; cf. the present translation) or to עוּזִּי (’uzziy, “my strength”; cf. NEB “my protector since I left my mother’s womb”).

[71:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “in you [is] my praise continually.”

[71:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “like a sign [i.e., portent or bad omen] I am to many.”

[71:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my mouth is filled [with] your praise, all the day [with] your splendor.”

[71:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “do not cast me away at the time of old age.”

[71:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “those who watch for my life consult together.”

[71:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “saying.”