Psalms 71:9

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Don’t discard me in my old age.As my strength fails, do not abandon me.

Hebrew Names Version
Don't reject me in my old age. Don't forsake me when my strength fails.

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

English Standard Version
Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.

New Century Version
Do not reject me when I am old; do not leave me when my strength is gone.

New English Translation
Do not reject me in my old age! When my strength fails, do not abandon me!

Amplified Bible
Do not cast me off nor send me away in the time of old age; Do not abandon me when my strength fails and I am weak.

New American Standard Bible
Do not cast me away at the time of my old age; Do not abandon me when my strength fails.

World English Bible
Don't reject me in my old age. Don't forsake me when my strength fails.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Cast mee not off in the time of age: forsake me not when my strength faileth.

Legacy Standard Bible
Do not cast me off in the time of old age;Do not forsake me when my strength fails.

Berean Standard Bible
Do not discard me in my old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails.

Contemporary English Version
Don't throw me aside when I am old; don't desert me when my strength is gone.

Complete Jewish Bible
Don't reject me when I grow old; when my strength fails, don't abandon me.

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

Easy-to-Read Version
Don't throw me away just because I am old. Don't leave me as I lose my strength.

George Lamsa Translation
Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength fails.

Good News Translation
Do not reject me now that I am old; do not abandon me now that I am feeble.

Lexham English Bible
Do not cast me away in the time of old age; when my strength fails do not abandon me.

Literal Translation
Do not cast me off now at the time of my old age. Do not forsake me when my strength fails.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For myne enemies speake agaynst me, & they that laye wayte for my soule, take their councell together, sayenge: God hath forsake him, persecute him, take him, for there is none to helpe him.

American Standard Version
Cast me not off in the time of old age; Forsake me not when my strength faileth.

Bible in Basic English
Do not give me up when I am old; be my help even when my strength is gone.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Cast me not off in the time of old age; when my strength faileth, forsake me not.

King James Version (1611)
span data-lang="eng" data-trans="kja" data-ref="psa.71.1" class="versetxt"> [To the chiefe musician, a psalme of Dauid, to bring to remembrance.] Make haste, O God, to deliuer mee, make haste to helpe me, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and confounded that seeke after my soule: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt. Let them be turned backe for a reward of their shame, that say, Aha, aha. Let all those that seeke thee, reioyce, and be glad in thee: and let such as loue thy saluation, say continually, Let God be magnified. But I am poore and needy, make haste vnto me, O God: Thou art my helpe and my deliuerer, O Lord make no tarrying.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Cast me not away in the tyme of age: forsake me not when my strength fayleth me.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Cast me not off at the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength fails.

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

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Caste thou not awei me in the tyme of eldnesse; whanne my vertu failith, forsake thou not me.

Update Bible Version
Don't cast me off in the time of old age; Don't forsake me when my strength fails.

Webster's Bible Translation
Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.

New King James Version
Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails.

New Living Translation
And now, in my old age, don't set me aside. Don't abandon me when my strength is failing.

New Life Bible
Do not let me fall by the way when I am old. Do not leave me alone when my strength is gone.

New Revised Standard
Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Do not cast me off in the time of old age, When my vigour faileth, do not forsake me;

Douay-Rheims Bible
(70-9) Cast me not off in the time of old age: when my strength shall fail, do not thou forsake me.

Revised Standard Version
Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.

Young's Literal Translation
Cast me not off at the time of old age, According to the consumption of my power forsake me not.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails.

Contextual Overview

¹I run for dear life to God , I'll never live to regret it. Do what you do so well: get me out of this mess and up on my feet. Put your ear to the ground and listen, give me space for salvation. Be a guest room where I can retreat; you said your door was always open! You're my salvation—my vast, granite fortress. ⁴My God, free me from the grip of Wicked, from the clutch of Bad and Bully. You keep me going when times are tough— my bedrock, God , since my childhood. I've hung on you from the day of my birth, the day you took me from the cradle; I'll never run out of praise. Many gasp in alarm when they see me, but you take me in stride. ⁸Just as each day brims with your beauty, my mouth brims with praise. But don't turn me out to pasture when I'm old or put me on the shelf when I can't pull my weight. My enemies are talking behind my back, watching for their chance to knife me. The gossip is: "God has abandoned him. Pounce on him now; no one will help him." ¹²God, don't just watch from the sidelines. Come on! Run to my side! My accusers—make them lose face. Those out to get me—make them look Like idiots, while I stretch out, reaching for you, and daily add praise to praise. I'll write the book on your righteousness, talk up your salvation the livelong day, never run out of good things to write or say. I come in the power of the Lord God , I post signs marking his right-of-way.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cast: Psalms 71:18, Psalms 92:13-15, Isaiah 46:4, 2 Timothy 1:12, 2 Timothy 4:18

old age: This determines the period when this Psalm was composed; for it was in David's old age that the rebellion of Absalom took place.

when: Psalms 73:26, Psalms 90:10, 2 Samuel 19:35, 2 Samuel 21:15-17, Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 19:7 - all the evil 2 Kings 18:30 - make you Psalms 31:10 - strength Psalms 37:25 - I have Psalms 43:2 - why dost Psalms 51:11 - Cast Psalms 86:17 - that they Proverbs 3:16 - Length Isaiah 36:15 - General Philemon 1:9 - Paul

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Cast me not off in the time of old age,.... The Lord never casts off nor casts away his people, whom he foreknew; they are near unto him; they are on his heart, and are engraven on the palms of his hands; and they shall never be removed from his heart's love, nor out of his arms, nor out of his covenant, and shall always be the objects of his care: he bears and carries them to old age, and even to hoary hairs: the Lord had been the guide of David's youth, and his trust then, Psalms 71:5; and now he desires he would be the staff of his old age; at which age he was when Absalom rebelled against him;

forsake me not when my strength faileth: as it does when old age comes on; then the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men bow themselves, and especially at death, when flesh and heart fail; but God will never forsake his people, neither in youth nor in old age, neither in life nor at death.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Cast me not off in the time of old age - When old age comes with its infirmities; its weaknesses; its trials. When my strength fails me; when my eyes grow dim; when my knees totter; when my friends have died; when I am no longer able to labor for my support; when the buoyant feelings of earlier years are no more; when my old companions and associates are gone, and I am left alone. Thou who didst watch over me in infancy; who didst guard me in childhood and youth; who hast defended me in manhood; who hast upheld me in the days of sickness, danger, bereavement, trouble - do thou not leave me when, in advanced years, I have special need of thy care; when I have reason to apprehend that there may come upon me, in that season of my life, troubles that I have never known before; when I shall not have the strength, the buoyancy, the elasticity, the ardor, the animal spirits of other years, to enable me to meet those troubles; and when I shall have none of the friends to cheer me whom I had in the earlier periods of my course. It is not unnatural or improper for a man who sees old age coming upon him to pray for special grace, and special strength, to enable him to meet what he cannot ward off, and what he cannot but dread; for who can look upon the infirmities of old age as coming upon himself but with sad and pensive feelings? Who would wish “to be” an old man? Who can look upon a man tottering with years, and broken down with infirmities - a man whose sight and hearing are gone - a man who is alone amidst the graves of all the friends that he had in early life - a man who is a burden to himself and to the world, a man who has reached the “last scene of all, that ends the strange eventful history,” that scene of

“Second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything,” -

That scene when one can say,

“I have lived long enough; my way of life

Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf;

And that which should accompany old age,

As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends,

I must not look to have,”

Who can think of all this, and not pray for special grace for himself should he live to see those days of infirmity and weakness? And who, in view of such infirmities, can fail to see the propriety of seeking the favor of God in early years? Compare Ecclesiastes 12:1-6.

Forsake me not when my strength faileth - As I may expect it to do, when I grow old. A man can lay up nothing better for the infirmities of old age than the favor of God sought, by earnest prayer, in the days of his youth and his maturer years.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 71:9. Cast me not off in the time of old age — The original might be translated and paraphrased thus: "Thou wilt not cast me off till the time of old age; and according to the failure of my flesh, thou wilt not forsake me." My expectation of rest and happiness will not be deferred till the time that I shall be an aged man, Thou wilt not withdraw thy presence from me as my flesh decays, and as my natural strength abates; but, on the contrary, as my outward man decays, my inward man shall be renewed day by day. It was in David's old age that the rebellion of Absalom took place.