Psalms 71

LORD, I have made you my safe place. Never let me be put to shame.

1In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.

Note"LORD" printed in small capitals marks a place where the Hebrew has God's personal name, which Jewish readers by long custom did not say aloud, substituting a word meaning "my Lord"; English Bibles keep that substitution and signal it with the capitals. "Put to confusion" in 1611 English, and "shame" in the plain rendering, mean public humiliation rather than a private feeling: to be visibly let down in front of onlookers, exposed as someone whose confidence was misplaced.

2You do what is right, so rescue me and set me free. Bend down and listen to me, and save me.

2Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

Note"Righteousness" here is not God's moral standard measured against the speaker, but God's own reliable, upright dealing, his habit of setting things right for those wronged. In the Psalms it regularly comes close in meaning to "rescue" or "vindication," which is why the line can ask to be saved *by* it.

3Be my strong home, a place I can go to at any time. You have given the order to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

3Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

Note"Rock" and "fortress" are literal landscape terms in a country of cliffs and crags: a high outcrop or a walled strongpoint where a hunted person could not be reached. Verses 1–3 repeat, with small changes, the opening of Psalm 31, reusing an older poem's lines was a normal way to compose. The clause "thou hast given commandment to save me" translates a difficult Hebrew phrase; the parallel in Psalm 31 reads instead "a house of defence to save me," and scholars disagree about which wording is original.

4Rescue me, my God, from the grip of the wicked, from the hand of the man who is unjust and cruel.

4Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

5You are what I hope in, Lord GOD. You are the one I have counted on since I was young.

5For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.

Note"Lord GOD" with GOD in small capitals marks a double name in Hebrew, the word for "my Lord" followed by God's personal name. Printing the second word in capitals is the translators' way of showing that a different Hebrew word stands behind it than behind the ordinary "Lord."

6You have held me up since before I was born. You are the one who brought me out of my mother's body. I praise you all the time.

6By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.

NoteThe Hebrew verb rendered "took me out" is uncertain and may mean "cut me free", the action of the midwife severing the cord. The image is of God doing the midwife's work, so that the speaker's dependence goes back not to a decision he made but to the moment of birth.

7To many people I look like a strange sign, but you are my strong place of safety.

7I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "a wonder" and "a strange sign" means a portent or omen, an unusual thing people read as a message. Because long suffering was widely assumed to mean divine displeasure, a person visibly afflicted became an object lesson others pointed at. The word does not mean he is admired; it means he is stared at.

8Let my mouth be full of your praise, telling how glorious you are all day long.

8Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.

9Do not throw me away when I am old. Do not leave me when my strength runs out.

9Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.

10My enemies talk against me. Those who watch for a chance to take my life make plans together.

10For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,

Note"My soul" translates a Hebrew word meaning the living self (breath, life, the whole person), not an immaterial part housed in a body. To lie in wait for someone's soul is to lie in wait to kill him.

11They say, "God has left him. Go after him and grab him. There is no one to rescue him."

11Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.

NoteThe enemies' words assume a common ancient reading of misfortune: that a person still under a patron's protection would not be suffering, so continued trouble proves the protector has withdrawn. Their conclusion "there is none to deliver him" is a practical calculation, no protector means no risk in attacking.

12God, do not stay far away from me. My God, hurry and help me.

12O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.

13Let the ones who accuse me be put to shame and finished off. Let those who want to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace.

13Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.

14But I will keep on hoping, and I will praise you more and more.

14But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.

15My mouth will tell how right you are and how you save, all day long, even though I cannot count how many times you have done it.

15My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.

NoteThe last clause is ambiguous in Hebrew. It can mean "I do not know their number" (the rescues are past counting) or "I do not know how to reckon," that is, the speaker lacks the skill of a trained scribe or accountant. Translations divide between the two.

16I will come in the strength of the Lord GOD. I will speak of how right you are, and yours alone.

16I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.

Note"I will go in" renders a Hebrew verb meaning simply "come" or "enter," with no object stated. It may mean entering the temple to give public thanks, or coming forward into a confrontation, or coming with a recital of God's mighty acts; the line does not say which.

17God, you have taught me since I was young, and up to this day I have told about the wonderful things you do.

17O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

18Even now, when I am old and gray-haired, God, do not leave me. Let me stay until I have shown your strength to this generation, and your power to everyone still to come.

18Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.

19God, the right things you do reach as high as the heavens. You have done great things. God, who is like you?

19Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!

20You have let me see many hard and bitter troubles, but you will bring me back to life again. You will lift me up again from deep in the earth.

20Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

Note"Quicken" is older English for "make alive again," here reviving someone brought near death rather than raising the long dead. "The depths of the earth" is standard poetic language for the grave and the realm of the dead; someone gravely ill or in mortal danger could be described as already down there. Hebrew manuscripts differ here between "shown me" and "shown us," so some translations put the whole verse in the plural.

21You will make me greater than before, and you will comfort me again.

21Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.

Note"Greatness" translates a word for public standing, honor, and reputation (the regard one is held in by the community), rather than personal size or power. The request is for restored status after disgrace.

22So I will praise you with a stringed instrument, praising you for being faithful, my God. I will sing to you with the harp, Holy One of Israel.

22I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.

NoteThe "psaltery" and "harp" are two Hebrew stringed instruments: the *nebel*, a larger, deeper-toned instrument, and the *kinnor*, a smaller lyre held in the arms. Neither resembles a modern concert harp. "Thy truth" translates a word meaning dependability or faithfulness, being true in the sense of holding firm, not in the sense of stating facts. "Holy One of Israel" is a fixed title, common in the book of Isaiah, built on a word meaning set apart from all else.

23My lips will shout for joy when I sing to you, and so will my whole self, which you have set free.

23My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.

Note"Redeemed" translates a legal term from family law: the act of a relative who pays to buy back a kinsman's forfeited land, or the kinsman himself out of debt-slavery. Applied to God it carries that commercial and family sense, someone with an obligation stepped in and paid the price to get the person back. "My soul" again means the whole living self.

24My tongue will speak about the right things you do, all day long, because the people who want to hurt me have been put to shame and disgraced.

24My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.

NoteThe final lines shift to a completed tense (the enemies *have been* disgraced) although verse 13 was still asking for it. Hebrew poetry commonly states a hoped-for outcome as already accomplished, and translators differ over whether to render such lines as past fact or as continued confidence about the future.