Even 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- KJV Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.
- NKJV Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come.
- NASB And even when I am old and gray, God, do not abandon me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come.
- NLT Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Even in old age the psalmist pleads that God would not abandon him until he has proclaimed God's power to the coming generation.
Overview
Aware of his weakening years, the psalmist's chief concern is not comfort but continued witness to those who follow. His desire to pass on the knowledge of God's might shows that faithful testimony is a generational trust. This concern for proclaiming God's strength to all who are to come is answered in the Great Commission, where the gospel is carried to every generation (Matthew 28:19-20).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Isa 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.
- Ps 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.
- Ps 71:9Do not discard me in my old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails.
- Ps 145:4–5One generation will commend Your works to the next, and will proclaim Your mighty acts—
- Ps 78:6that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children
- Exod 13:14–17In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Ps 22:31They will come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn—all that He has done.
- 1 Sam 4:18As soon as the ark of God was mentioned, Eli fell backward from his chair by the city gate, and being old and heavy, he broke his neck and died. And Eli had judged Israel forty years.
- Isa 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?
- Exod 13:8And on that day you are to explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
- 1 Sam 4:15Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed because he could not see.
- Isa 53:1Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
- Acts 13:36For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. His body was buried with his fathers and saw decay.
- Gen 27:1When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” Esau replied.
- 1 Chr 29:10–30Then David blessed the LORD in the sight of all the assembly and said: “May You be blessed, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 71:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.