Psalm 71 is the prayer of a person who has walked with God long enough to know both His faithfulness and human frailty. The Psalmist does not pretend that age, weakness, accusation, or public humiliation are easy. He asks not to be cast away when strength fails.
Its spiritual force is this: the faithful life is not only about beginning well. It is about being held by God until the end, so that one generation can declare His arm to the next. The Psalm turns aging from a fear into a vocation.
Psalm Metadata
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| NKJV / Masoretic numbering | Psalm 71 |
| Septuagint / Coptic numbering | Psalm 70 |
| Accepted author | MT/NKJV has no superscription. The LXX gives: “By David, a Psalm sung by the sons of Jonadab, and the first that were taken captive.” |
| Period in author’s life | No precise Davidic episode is named. The body speaks as an aging servant; the LXX superscription names the sons of Jonadab and the first captives. |
| Christ prophecy status | Typological and ecclesial. The aging servant’s prayer becomes the Church’s. Christ voluntarily suffers weakness and reproach on the Cross; He is not portrayed as biologically old or as deserted by the Father. |
| Coptic lectionary/service use | A retained dated reference for the Third Sunday of Babah/Baba prints Psalm 71:5-7 at Vespers and Psalm 71:7-8 at the Liturgy, in the Sunday cycle marked Herbs and Plants. |
| Numbering issue | The embedded Scripture text is Brenton LXX Psalm 70. The cited service reference prints Psalm 71. |
Historical and Scriptural Context
This Psalm stands between the urgent cry of Psalm 70 and the royal Messianic vision of Psalm 72. That placement matters. The Psalter moves from immediate need, to lifelong dependence, to the coming King whose righteousness fills the earth.
The LXX superscription connects the Psalm with David, the sons of Jonadab, and the first captives. The sons of Jonadab, or Rechabites, are remembered in Jeremiah 35 for obedience to their father’s command. Augustine of Hippo, a Christian witness from the wider Church, reads their obedience alongside the captivity of a disobedient people. He expressly distinguishes the sons of Jonadab from those led captive.1 His interpretation does not establish a particular historical occasion for the Psalm. Its body gives us the prayer of a servant who has trusted God from youth and now asks to be carried through weakness.
Geographical Significance ⛰️
No single place drives the Psalm. Its geography is temporal rather than spatial: youth, womb, old age, depths of the earth, and the generation to come. The movement is from birth to death, and from one generation to the next.
The Characters 👥
The aging servant. He has known God from youth and been protected from the womb. His weakness is not unbelief; it is the place where faith asks God to remain near.
The enemies. They interpret weakness as abandonment, claiming that God has forsaken him. This is one of the cruellest spiritual temptations, to read another person’s suffering as proof that God has left him.
The coming generation. The Psalmist wants life not only for survival, but so he can declare God’s arm to those who come after him.
God. He is refuge, fortress, protector from the womb, teacher from youth, and the One who raises again from the depths.
🕯️ Light from the Word
Psalm 71:1-8 (LXX Psalm 70:1-8), hope from the womb and praise all the day
70:1 By David, a Psalm sung by the sons of Jonadab, and the first that were taken captive. O Lord, I have hoped in thee: let me never be put to shame. 70:2 In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me: incline thine ear to me, and save me. 70:3 Be to me a protecting God, and a strong hold to save me: for thou art my fortress and my refuge. 70:4 Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the sinner, from the hand of the transgressor and unjust man. 70:5 For thou art my support, O Lord; O Lord, thou art my hope from my youth. 70:6 On thee have I been stayed from the womb: from the belly of my mother thou art my protector: of thee is my praise continually. 70:7 I am become as it were a wonder to many; but thou art my strong helper. 70:8 Let my mouth be filled with praise, that I may hymn thy glory, and thy majesty all the day.
The Psalm begins with refuge language: deliver, rescue, incline, save, fortress, refuge. This is not abstract piety. The speaker is exposed. He knows he cannot preserve himself by memory, experience, or past faithfulness.
The LXX phrase “from the belly of my mother thou art my protector” makes the prayer deeply personal. God is not a late discovery. The Psalmist’s life has been surrounded by mercy before he could name it. This is why the Church can pray this Psalm with the elderly, the weak, the persecuted, and also with children. God’s care precedes our awareness.
In his Letter to Marcellinus, Athanasius describes the Psalter as a portrait of the soul and a source of words suited to many kinds of need. This Psalm is a fitting example. It gives words to a believer who has a long memory of mercy but still needs present help.
The line “I am become as it were a wonder to many” is spiritually sharp. Sometimes a suffering person becomes a spectacle. People observe, interpret, whisper, and explain. The Psalm answers that God is not a spectator. He is the strong helper.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “God’s care precedes our awareness”; “God is not a spectator.”
- Emphasize: the Psalmist’s confidence is built on remembered mercy, not self-confidence.
- Avoid: reducing this to generic encouragement for aging. It is also about shame, public suffering, and God as protector from the womb.
Psalm 71:9-13 (LXX Psalm 70:9-13), when strength fails
70:9 Cast me not off at the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength fails. 70:10 For mine enemies have spoken against me; and they that lay wait for my soul have taken counsel together, 70:11 saying, God has forsaken him: persecute ye and take him; for there is none to deliver him. 70:12 O God, go not far from me, O my God, draw nigh to my help. 70:13 Let those that plot against my soul be ashamed and utterly fail: let those that seek my hurt be clothed with shame and dishonour.
This is the center of the Psalm: “Cast me not off at the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength fails.” Scripture does not romanticize weakness. It names it plainly. The fear is not only pain or death. The fear is abandonment.
Augustine reads this plea through Christ’s weakness on the Cross. He imagines God answering the sufferer to explain how divine strength can abide when human strength fails. This is Augustine’s exposition, not an additional biblical oracle: “Here God makes this answer to you, yea indeed let your strength fail, in order that in you mine may abide: in order that you may say with the Apostle, When I am made weak, then I am mighty.”2 He then asks, “Was not your Lord made weak on the Cross?”3 He is not urging anyone to cause weakness or refuse care. Christ freely bore the Cross; Augustine connects the Psalm’s old age with our old humanity crucified with Him, not with Jesus reaching biological old age.
The enemies claim that God has forsaken the servant. This is the same logic heard at the Cross: if He is the Son of God, let Him come down. Augustine explicitly denies that the Father deserted the Son.4 The faithful soul must learn that not every deliverance is immediate visible rescue. God can sustain a person in suffering, sometimes through the care of others; in Christ, hope reaches beyond death to Resurrection.
This is also a pastoral warning. Do not interpret another person’s declining strength, illness, or loneliness as spiritual failure. The Psalm forbids that cruelty. The one whose strength fails may be closest to the mystery of Christ crucified. Suffering itself is not proof of holiness, and no one needs to welcome harm to deserve care.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “The fear is abandonment”; “divine strength can dwell in weakness without shame.”
- Emphasize: Augustine’s Cross-centered reading of failed strength.
- Avoid: weaponizing the Psalm against elderly or suffering people by telling them to simply be strong.
Psalm 71:14-18 (LXX Psalm 70:14-18), praise that becomes inheritance
70:14 But I will hope continually, and will praise thee more and more. 70:15 My mouth shall declare thy righteousness openly, and thy salvation all the day; for I am not acquainted with the affairs of men. 70:16 I will go on in the might of the Lord: O Lord, I will make mention of thy righteousness only. 70:17 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and until now will I declare thy wonders; 70:18 even until I am old and advanced in years. O God, forsake me not; until I shall have declared thine arm to all the generation that is to come:
Brenton’s unusual clause about not being acquainted with the affairs of men follows the promise to declare God’s righteousness and salvation. The next verse turns to the Lord’s might and righteousness. In this context, the speaker directs his confidence toward God’s saving work rather than mastery of human affairs. He is not making neglect of neighbors or everyday duties a virtue. This is a reading of the clause in context, not a claim to settle its difficult wording.
The Psalmist does not ask for more years only to enjoy more years. He asks for time to declare God’s arm “to all the generation that is to come.” Old age becomes ministry. A long life is not merely a private possession; it is a trust received for the strengthening of others.
There is a serious lesson here for a church community. The elderly are not decorative. They carry remembered mercy. They know what it means to survive losses, betrayals, weakness, and the long discipline of prayer. A congregation that ignores them cuts itself off from one of God’s chosen instruments of memory.
Yet no one must tell a story, recall a name, or perform a service to be precious to God and belong among His people. When speech or memory fails, the congregation can visit, listen, offer practical care, and help carry memories for those who can no longer share them.
The phrase “I will go on in the might of the Lord” is not triumphalism. It is the vow of someone who knows his own might is fading. The only righteousness he can finally speak of is God’s righteousness. That is why the Psalm moves naturally from personal rescue to witness.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “Old age becomes ministry”; “the elderly carry remembered mercy.”
- Emphasize: the generational vocation of testimony.
- Avoid: sentimentalizing old age. The Psalm speaks from real danger and failing strength.
Psalm 71:19-24 (LXX Psalm 70:19-24), brought again from the depths
70:19 even thy power and thy righteousness, O God, up to the highest heavens, even the mighty works which thou hast done: O God, who is like to thee? 70:20 What afflictions many and sore hast thou shewed me! yet thou didst turn and quicken me, and broughtest me again from the depths of the earth. 70:21 Thou didst multiply thy righteousness, and didst turn and comfort me, and broughtest me again out of the depths of the earth. 70:22 I will also therefore give thanks to thee, O God, because of thy truth, on an instrument of psalmody: I will sing psalms to thee on the harp, O Holy One of Israel. 70:23 My lips shall rejoice when I sing to thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. 70:24 Moreover also my tongue shall dwell all the day upon thy righteousness; when they shall be ashamed and confounded that seek my hurt.
The Psalm does not end with decline. It ends with resurrection-shaped hope: “thou didst turn and quicken me, and broughtest me again from the depths of the earth.” In the literal sense this can describe restoration from mortal danger. In the Church’s reading it opens toward Christ, who entered the depths and rose, and toward every believer who is raised through Him. Augustine reads the repeated return from the depths in the light of Christ risen ahead of His members and the bodily resurrection for which they still hope.
This is not optimism. It is Paschal realism. The believer may truly be shown “many and sore” afflictions, yet God’s last word is not the affliction. The same God who protected from the womb can raise from the depths. This hope does not promise that every earthly weakness will be reversed before death.
The mouth, lips, soul, and tongue all return to praise. The whole person becomes thanksgiving. This matters because suffering can fragment the person. The Psalm gathers the person back together in worship.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “Paschal realism”; “the whole person becomes thanksgiving.”
- Emphasize: the resurrection-shaped movement from depths to praise.
- Avoid: promising that every earthly weakness will be visibly reversed before death.
The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖
A retained Coptic Orthodox reading for the Third Sunday of Babah/Baba prints Psalm 71:5-7 at Vespers with Mark 4:35-41. At the Liturgy it prints Psalm 71:7-8 with Matthew 12:22-28.5 The words about hope from youth, protection from the womb, being a wonder to many, and praise correspond to the same verse numbers in Brenton Psalm 70.
The Sunday cycle is marked “Herbs and Plants.” The label brings to mind growth that is not limited to youth. Here, protection from the womb and praise through later life are held together: the God who gives life is also the helper sought when strength fades.
Iconography Connection 🖼️
This Psalm resonates with icons of the Crucifixion, where Christ appears outwardly weak but is inwardly victorious. It also resonates with icons of elderly saints, confessors, and desert fathers whose faces show not worldly strength but transfigured endurance. The spiritual image is not youth preserved forever. It is weakness held by God until it becomes praise.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
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Do not fear needing God more as strength fades. The Psalm does not say, “Do not become weak.” It says, “Forsake me not when my strength fails.” Dependence can deepen with age, illness, grief, and exhaustion.
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Honor the elderly as bearers of memory. Ask older believers what God has carried them through. Visit, listen, and offer help to those who cannot speak or remember easily.
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Refuse the cruelty of interpreting weakness as abandonment. The enemies claim that God has forsaken the servant. The Church must never echo that accusation.
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Make your life transmissible. The Psalmist wants to declare God’s arm to the next generation. A Christian should ask, “What have I learned of God’s mercy that my children, godchildren, students, or younger deacons need to hear?”
Teacher's Notes
- Timing: 8 minutes for metadata and context, 25 minutes for the four text sections, 8 minutes for worship and iconography, 10 minutes for spiritual fruit.
- Where to linger: Psalm 70:9, especially Augustine’s Cross-centered reading of failed strength.
- Where to compress: LXX superscription details if the group is not ready for textual-numbering discussion.
- Pastoral warning: do not turn the lesson into advice about aging well. Keep it theological and pastoral: God remains near when strength fails.
- Key phrase to say slowly: “The one whose strength fails may be closest to the mystery of Christ crucified.”
Glossary
- Sons of Jonadab / Rechabites: A family commended in Jeremiah 35 for obedience to their ancestor’s command.
- Paschal realism: Hope shaped by Christ’s death and Resurrection, without denying suffering.
- LXX: The Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament used widely in the ancient Church.
Translation and Source Notes
Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX), Psalm 70. The study title uses NKJV/Masoretic numbering first, Psalm 71, with LXX 70 in parentheses. The cited service reference preserves its printed Psalm 71 numbering. In the Teacher’s Notes, Psalm 70:9 is the LXX reference for Psalm 71:9 in MT/NKJV.
Augustine’s exposition uses Latin/LXX Psalm 70; the New Advent page is headed Psalm 71. The quotations above follow New Advent’s modernized English.
Sources
Primary sources:
- Brenton’s English Septuagint, Psalm 70; Jeremiah 35 (LXX Jeremiah 42); Romans 6:6; 2 Corinthians 12:10.
- St Athanasius of Alexandria, Letter to Marcellinus Concerning the Psalms, on the Psalter as a portrait of the soul and a source of prayer for varied needs. The translator of the English text used here is unidentified.
- St Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 71, Latin/LXX Psalm 70, sections 2, 10-11, and 27. T. Scratton translated the applicable Oxford range; A. Cleveland Coxe condensed and annotated the Oxford text for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, with Philip Schaff as general editor. Kevin Knight revised the New Advent presentation.
Coptic Orthodox / liturgical source:
CopticChurch.net readings for October 30, 2022, Third Sunday of Baba, Vespers and Liturgy.
Footnotes
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St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 70 (Latin/LXX), section 2, New Advent, Psalm 71. ↩
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St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 70 (Latin/LXX), section 10, New Advent, Psalm 71. ↩
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St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 70 (Latin/LXX), section 10, New Advent, Psalm 71. ↩
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St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 70 (Latin/LXX), section 11, New Advent, Psalm 71. ↩
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CopticChurch.net readings for October 30, 2022, Third Sunday of Baba, Vespers and Liturgy. In the lectionary-data 1.3.5 index, related Katameros Sunday-cycle entries are retained for provenance after removal as duplicate appointments, not as separate active or independent witnesses. The Third Sunday is distinct from the annual fixed date Babah 3. ↩