Psalm 71

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

¹In you, O Lord , do I take refuge;[#Ps. 31:1-3]

let me never be put to shame!

²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me, and save me!

³Be to me a rock of refuge,[#Ps. 90:1; 91:9; Deut. 33:27]

to which I may continually come;

you have given the command to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,[#Ps. 140:1, 4]

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

⁵For you, O Lord, are my hope,[#Jer. 14:8; 17:13; 50:7; 1 Tim. 1:1]

my trust, O Lord , from my youth.

⁶Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;[#Ps. 22:10]

you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.

My praise is continually of you.

⁷I have been as a portent to many,[#Isa. 8:18; 1 Cor. 4:9]

but you are my strong refuge.

⁸My mouth is filled with your praise,[#24]

and with your glory all the day.

⁹Do not cast me off in the time of old age;[#18]

forsake me not when my strength is spent.

¹⁰For my enemies speak concerning me;

those who watch for my life consult together

¹¹and say, “God has forsaken him;

pursue and seize him,

for there is none to deliver him.”

¹²O God, be not far from me;[#Ps. 10:1]

O my God, make haste to help me!

¹³May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;[#24; Ps. 35:4, 26]

with scorn and disgrace may they be covered

who seek my hurt.

¹⁴But I will hope continually[#5]

and will praise you yet more and more.

¹⁵My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,[#8, 24]

of your deeds of salvation all the day,

for their number is past my knowledge.

¹⁶With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;

I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

¹⁷O God, from my youth you have taught me,

and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

¹⁸So even to old age and gray hairs,[#Isa. 46:4]

O God, do not forsake me,

until I proclaim your might to another generation,

your power to all those to come.

¹⁹Your righteousness, O God,[#Ps. 36:5]

reaches the high heavens.

You who have done great things,

O God, who is like you?

²⁰You who have made me see many troubles and calamities[#Ps. 60:3]

will revive me again;

from the depths of the earth

you will bring me up again.

²¹You will increase my greatness

and comfort me again.

²²I will also praise you with the harp[#Ps. 33:2]

for your faithfulness, O my God;

I will sing praises to you with the lyre,

O Holy One of Israel.

²³My lips will shout for joy,

when I sing praises to you;

my soul also, which you have redeemed.

²⁴And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,[#8, 15Ps. 35:28]

for they have been put to shame and disappointed

who sought to do me hurt.