Psalm 71
Theme
Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent
Outline
1-3, Let Me Not Be Put to Shame 4-6, Trust from Youth 7-9, Do Not Cast Me Off in Old Age 10-11, They Think Me God-Forsaken 12-13, Let Them Be Put to Shame 14-16, I Will Praise You 17-18, From Youth to Old Age Forsake Me Not 19-21, You Will Give Life from Death 22-24, I Will Praise; They Are Put to Shame
Key Verse
(71:1) In You, O LORD, I put my trust; Let me never be put to shame.
Notes
Psalm 71 is unsuperscripted and continues in the vein of prayer seen in Ps 70, even repeating words from (70:1) in (71:12), with the result that the first-person singular statements throughout have a Davidic feel. The psalmist opens with a prayer that he not be put to shame (71:1), in the middle he prays for his enemies to be put to shame (71:13), and at the end he says they have been put to shame (71:24). In between are matching statements on how the psalmist has trusted God from youth to old age (71:4–9), (71:17–21).