And now, in my old age, don’t set me aside. Don’t abandon me when my strength is failing.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t reject me in my old age. Don’t forsake me when my strength fails.
- KJV Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.
- BSB Do not discard me in my old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails.
- NKJV Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
- NASB Do not cast me away at the time of my old age; Do not abandon me when my strength fails.
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
The psalmist prays that God would not cast him off in old age or forsake him when his strength fails. It is a moving plea for God's faithfulness in life's later years.
Overview
As his strength wanes with age, the psalmist asks God not to reject or abandon him. This tender prayer voices the concern of the elderly believer for God's continued nearness. God's promise is to carry his people even to old age and gray hairs (Isaiah 46:4), assuring that those in Christ are never forsaken at any stage of life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 2 Tim 1:12For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.
- 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 71:18Yes, 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.
- Ps 90:10The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.
- Ps 92:13–15They are planted in Yahweh’s house. They will flourish in our God’s courts.
- Eccl 12:1–7Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
- 2 Tim 4:18And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me for his heavenly Kingdom; to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
- Ps 73:26My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- 2 Sam 19:35I am eighty years old, today. Can I discern between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear the voice of singing men and singing women any more? Why then should your servant be a burden to my lord the king?
- 2 Sam 21:15–17The Philistines had war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. David grew faint;
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 71:9 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.