Psalm 71

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

¹In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;

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,

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,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

⁵For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

⁶Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;

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,

but you are my strong refuge.

⁸My mouth is filled with your praise,

and with your glory all the day.

⁹Do not cast me off in the time of old age;

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;

O my God, make haste to help me!

¹³May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;

with scorn and disgrace may they be covered

who seek my hurt.

¹⁴But I will hope continually

and will praise you yet more and more.

¹⁵My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,

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,

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,

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

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

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,

for they have been put to shame and disappointed

who sought to do me hurt.