Limitless Word
Though 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.
Psalms 71:20 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, you will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.
  • KJV Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
  • NKJV You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, Shall revive me again, And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
  • NASB You who have shown me many troubles and distresses Will revive me again, And will bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
  • NLT You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth.

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

Though God has allowed many bitter troubles, the psalmist trusts that the same God will revive him and bring him up again.

Overview

The psalmist acknowledges that his hardships have come within God's sovereign purpose, yet he holds firm hope that God will restore life. The language of being raised 'from the depths of the earth' breathes a confidence in revival after deep distress. For the believer this anticipates the resurrection hope secured in Christ, who was himself raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20-22).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 23

  • Ps 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.
  • Hos 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.
  • Ps 60:3You have shown Your people hardship; we are staggered from the wine You made us drink.
  • Ps 86:13For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.
  • Ezek 37:12–13Therefore prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O My people, I will open your graves and bring you up from them, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
  • Ps 40:1–3For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry.
  • Ps 80:18Then we will not turn away from You; revive us, and we will call on Your name.
  • Ps 119:25My soul cleaves to the dust; revive me according to Your word.
  • Jonah 2:6To the roots of the mountains I descended; the earth beneath me barred me in forever! But You raised my life from the pit, O LORD my God!
  • Isa 26:19Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.
  • Ps 88:6–18You have laid me in the lowest Pit, in the darkest of the depths.
  • Ps 16:10For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
  • Eph 4:9What does “He ascended” mean, except that He also descended to the lower parts of the earth?
  • Isa 38:17Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
  • Mark 15:34At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
  • Mark 14:33–34He took with Him Peter, James, and John, and began to be deeply troubled and distressed.
  • 2 Sam 12:11This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight.
  • Acts 2:24But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its clutches.
  • Rev 7:14“Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
  • Ps 66:10–12For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.
  • Ps 85:6Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?
  • Acts 2:32–34God has raised this Jesus to life, to which we are all witnesses.
  • 2 Cor 11:23–31Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 71:20YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 71:20 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.