Psalms · 24 verses
Psalms 71
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The speaker has become a portent to many, and the psalm leaves the portent gloriously unexplained: no omen is named, no reason supplied, only refuge offered against the mystery.
A refuge for the old and huntedvv. 1–13
The speaker begins by making refuge sound almost architectural: a rock, a fortress, a place always open for retreat. The plea then acquires an age to it. The one who has leaned on God since birth asks not to be discarded when strength fails, while enemies whisper that God has abandoned him. Their confidence is rather brisk; the speaker answers with a request that God hurry.
A life spent proclaimingvv. 14–19
The answer to danger is not silence but an increasingly crowded mouth: hope, praise, righteousness, salvation, marvelous deeds. The speaker has been taught from youth and now looks towards old age and gray hair, not to retire from the tale but to pass it on to the next generation. The horizon then widens to the heavens, where God's righteousness is found doing great things.
Down, up, and into songvv. 20–24
Troubles and misfortunes have not been few, and the psalm takes a wonderfully deep route through them: even from the depths of the earth, God will bring the speaker back up. Honour and comfort return, followed by harp, lyre, shouting lips, and a tongue still proclaiming righteousness. The enemies end not with a counter-argument but with disgrace and confusion, while the music carries on.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Ps 71:1In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame.
Ps 71:2In Your justice, rescue and deliver me; incline Your ear and save me.
Ps 71:3Be my rock of refuge, where I can always go. Give the command to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress.
Ps 71:4Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and ruthless.
Ps 71:5For You are my hope, O Lord GOD, my confidence from my youth.
Ps 71:6I have leaned on You since birth; You pulled me from my mother’s womb. My praise is always for You.
Ps 71:7I have become a portent to many, but You are my strong refuge.
Ps 71:8My mouth is filled with Your praise and with Your splendor all day long.
Ps 71:9Do not discard me in my old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails.
Ps 71:10For my enemies speak against me, and those who lie in wait for my life conspire,
Ps 71:11saying, “God has forsaken him; pursue him and seize him, for there is no one to rescue him.”
Ps 71:12Be not far from me, O God. Hurry, O my God, to help me.
Ps 71:13May the accusers of my soul be ashamed and consumed; may those who seek my harm be covered with scorn and disgrace.
Ps 71:14But I will always hope and will praise You more and more.
Ps 71:15My mouth will declare Your righteousness and Your salvation all day long, though I cannot know their full measure.
Ps 71:16I will come in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will proclaim Your righteousness—Yours alone.
Ps 71:17O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.
Ps 71:18Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.
Ps 71:19Your righteousness reaches to the heavens, O God, You who have done great things. Who, O God, is like You?
Ps 71:20Though You have shown me many troubles and misfortunes, You will revive me once again. Even from the depths of the earth You will bring me back up.
Ps 71:21You will increase my honor and comfort me once again.
Ps 71:22So I will praise You with the harp for Your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to You with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
Ps 71:23When I sing praise to You my lips will shout for joy, along with my soul, which You have redeemed.
Ps 71:24My tongue will indeed proclaim Your righteousness all day long, for those who seek my harm are disgraced and confounded.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 325 passages were voted onto 24 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 6Jeremiah 1:5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
- 1Psalms 31:1–3For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; save me by Your righteousness.
- 6Psalms 22:9–10Yet You brought me forth from the womb; You made me secure at my mother’s breast.
- 9Isaiah 46:4Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.
- 92 Timothy 1:12For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.
- 20Psalms 138:7If I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve me from the anger of my foes; You extend Your hand, and Your right hand saves me.
- 6Psalms 139:15–16My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
- 15Psalms 40:5Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us—none can compare to You—if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.
- 18Psalms 71:9Do not discard me in my old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails.
- 18Psalms 78:4We will not hide them from their children but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might and the wonders He has performed.
- 20Hosea 6:1–2Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
- 1Psalms 25:2–3in You, my God, I trust. Do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.
- 6Galatians 1:15But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased
- 20Psalms 60:3You have shown Your people hardship; we are staggered from the wine You made us drink.
- 3Psalms 18:2The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
- 5Jeremiah 17:7But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.
Onward