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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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.
- 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 old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.
- Ps 78:4We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.
- Ps 71:9Don’t reject me in my old age. Don’t forsake me when my strength fails.
- Ps 145:4–5One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts.
- Ps 78:6that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born; who should arise and tell their children,
- Exod 13:14–17It shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall tell him, ‘By strength of hand Yahweh brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage.
- Ps 22:31They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, for he has done it.
- 1 Sam 4:18When he made mention of God’s ark, Eli fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died; for he was an old man, and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.
- Isa 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?
- Exod 13:8You shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘It is because of that which Yahweh did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
- 1 Sam 4:15Now Eli was ninety-eight years old. His eyes were set, so that he could not see.
- Isa 53:1Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
- Acts 13:36For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, and was laid with his fathers, and saw decay.
- Gen 27:1When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?” He said to him, “Here I am.”
- 1 Chr 29:10–30Therefore David blessed Yahweh before all the assembly; and David said, “You are blessed, Yahweh, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
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