Psalm 71

¹ In you, LORD, I take refuge. Never let me be disappointed.

² Deliver me in your righteousness, and rescue me. Turn your ear to me, and save me.

³ Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may always go. Give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴ Rescue me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

⁵ For you are my hope, Lord GOD, my confidence from my youth.

⁶ I have relied on you from the womb. You are he who took me out of my mother’s womb. I will always praise you.

⁷ I am a marvel to many, but you are my strong refuge.

⁸ My mouth shall be filled with your praise, with your honor all day long.

⁹ Don’t reject me in my old age. Don’t forsake me when my strength fails.

¹⁰ For my enemies talk about me. Those who watch for my soul conspire together,

¹¹ saying, “God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for no one will rescue him.”

¹² God, don’t be far from me. My God, hurry to help me.

¹³ Let my accusers be disappointed and consumed. Let them be covered with disgrace and scorn who want to harm me.

¹⁴ But I will always hope, and will add to all of your praise.

¹⁵ My mouth will tell about your righteousness, and of your salvation all day, though I don’t know its full measure.

¹⁶ I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord GOD. I will make mention of your righteousness, even of yours alone.

¹⁷ God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works.

¹⁸ Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to everyone who is to come.

¹⁹ God, your righteousness also reaches to the heavens. You have done great things. God, who is like you?

²⁰ You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, you will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.

²¹ Increase my honor and comfort me again.

²² I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God. I sing praises to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel.

²³ My lips shall shout for joy! My soul, which you have redeemed, sings praises to you!

²⁴ My tongue will also talk about your righteousness all day long, for they are disappointed, and they are confounded, who want to harm me.

Around Psalm 71

Book context

PsalmsEditorial draft

Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers used in Israel’s worship, written by several people over a long period. Headings name David most often, along with Asaph, the sons of Korah and others. The collection falls into five books, each ending with a short blessing of the LORD (41:13, 72:19, 89:52, 106:48), and it closes with a call for everything that has breath to praise the LORD (150:6). The psalms hold praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession and trust, so readers find words for nearly every season of life.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · broad consensus · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

About Psalms as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?” A prayer can begin like that, and in the Psalms it does. Four times the poet asks how long, and then, in the same short song, comes the turn: “But I trust in your loving kindness.”

That honesty runs through the whole book. Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers, and it holds praise, thanksgiving, lament, confession, songs for the king, and reflections on wisdom and on God's law. It is arranged in five books and moves, on the whole, from many laments at the start to pure praise at the end.

Joy, fear, anger, guilt and doubt are all spoken to God directly.

Background

The psalms were written and gathered over several centuries. Their headings link about half of them with David and others with Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses. They were sung in the worship of the temple and later in synagogues and churches.

How Christians read it

Jews and Christians have prayed the Psalms daily for well over two thousand years. The New Testament quotes them more than any other book and reads many as speaking of Christ, among them Psalms 2, 22 and 110. The psalms that call for judgment on enemies are hard to read. Many understand them as handing vengeance over to God instead of taking it oneself.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 19 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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