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Gustave Doré’s engraving of David standing crowned and bowed as he mourns Absalom

Psalm 71

One of the psalms St Athanasius said to pray when people keep trying to frighten you, in a letter from the 300s.

  • 24Verses
  • 1Situation

St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus

When to pray it

In the 300s, St Athanasius of Alexandria wrote a letter to his friend Marcellinus about praying the Psalms. In it he matched psalms to what people go through. This is what he gave this one for.

They keep trying to frighten you, lying in wait and digging up whatever they can against you.

When your enemies keep trying to frighten you, lying in wait and searching out everything against you, however many they are, don't give in. In the Greek Psalter Athanasius sang, their blows are no more than children's arrows. Sing Psalms 64, 65, 70 and 71.

Letter to Marcellinus

For this, the quiz gives Psalm 64, and this psalm beside it.

24 verses, Berean Standard Bible

The whole psalm

Psalm 71

  1. 1In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame.
  2. 2In Your justice, rescue and deliver me; incline Your ear and save me.
  3. 3Be my rock of refuge, where I can always go. Give the command to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress.
  4. 4Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and ruthless.
  5. 5For You are my hope, O Lord GOD, my confidence from my youth.
  6. 6I have leaned on You since birth; You pulled me from my mother’s womb. My praise is always for You.
  7. 7I have become a portent to many, but You are my strong refuge.
  8. 8My mouth is filled with Your praise and with Your splendor all day long.
  9. 9Do not discard me in my old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails.
  10. 10For my enemies speak against me, and those who lie in wait for my life conspire,
  11. 11saying, “God has forsaken him; pursue him and seize him, for there is no one to rescue him.”
  12. 12Be not far from me, O God. Hurry, O my God, to help me.
  13. 13May the accusers of my soul be ashamed and consumed; may those who seek my harm be covered with scorn and disgrace.
  14. 14But I will always hope and will praise You more and more.
  15. 15My mouth will declare Your righteousness and Your salvation all day long, though I cannot know their full measure.
  16. 16I will come in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will proclaim Your righteousness—Yours alone.
  17. 17O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.
  18. 18Even 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.
  19. 19Your righteousness reaches to the heavens, O God, You who have done great things. Who, O God, is like You?
  20. 20Though 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.
  21. 21You will increase my honor and comfort me once again.
  22. 22So I will praise You with the harp for Your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to You with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
  23. 23When I sing praise to You my lips will shout for joy, along with my soul, which You have redeemed.
  24. 24My tongue will indeed proclaim Your righteousness all day long, for those who seek my harm are disgraced and confounded.

Psalm 71 is 70 in the Greek numbering Athanasius used, which Orthodox Bibles and some older Catholic ones still follow.

When people turn against you

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Which Psalm are you living right now?

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Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Athanasius’s advice is paraphrased from his Greek.