Psalm 71:2

Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

71:1-13 David prays that he might never be made ashamed of dependence upon God. With this petition every true believer may come boldly to the throne of grace. The gracious care of Divine providence in our birth and infancy, should engage us to early piety. He that was our Help from our birth, ought to be our Hope from our youth. Let none expect ease or comfort from the world. Those who love the Lord, often are hated and persecuted; men wondered at for their principles and conduct; but the Lord has been their strong refuge. The faithful servants of God may be assured that he will not cast them off in old age, nor forsake them when their strength fails.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Deliver me in thy righteousness - See the notes at Psalm 31:1. The first three verses of this psalm seem in fact to have been taken, with slight variations, from the first three verses of Psalm 31.

And cause me to escape - That is, from impending dangers; from the power of my enemies.

Incline thine ear unto me - In Psalm 31:2, this is, "Bow down thine ear to me." The idea is the same. See the notes at that place. Compare the notes at Psalm 17:6.

And save me - In Psalm 31:2, this is, "Deliver me speedily."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

PSALM 71

Ps 71:1-24. The Psalmist, probably in old age, appeals to God for help from his enemies, pleading his past favors, and stating his present need; and, in confidence of a hearing, he promises his grateful thanks and praise.

1-3. (Compare Ps 30:1-3).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Deliver me in thy righteousness,.... By it, or "for the sake of it" (q); See Gill on Psalm 31:1;

and cause me to escape; present danger, and out of the hands of enemies, as well as wrath to come, and eternal death; which nothing but the righteousness of God can deliver from, or cause to escape;

incline thine ear unto me; or "bow it"; See Gill on Psalm 31:2;

and save me; out of all troubles and afflictions, and from wicked and unreasonable men.

(q) "propter justitiam tuam", Pagninus, Piscator; so Schmidt.

Geneva Study Bible

Deliver me in thy {b} righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

(b) By declaring yourself true to your promises.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. Deliver me &c.] In thy righteousness wilt thou deliver me and rescue me: an expansion of the simpler rescue me in Psalm 31:1. In thy righteousness stands emphatically at the beginning of the sentence in the Heb. The righteousness of God is a thought upon which this Psalmist loves to dwell (Psalm 71:2; Psalm 71:15-16; Psalm 71:19; Psalm 71:24). In virtue of that unchanging rectitude which is an inalienable attribute of Deity, He cannot desert His servant. He must be true to His promise. Cp. 2 Timothy 2:13.

incline] Or, bow down, as in Psalm 31:2 : i.e. ‘bend a listening ear.’

save me] In Psalm 31:2, deliver me speedily.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Deliver me in thy righteousness. Identical with the last clause of Psalm 31:1. And cause me to escape. The danger seems to be pressing, and such as characterized Absalom's rather than Adonijah's rebellion. Incline thine ear unto me, and save me (comp. Psalm 31:2). Psalm 71:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Stayed upon Jahve, his ground of trust, from early childhood up, the poet hopes and prays for deliverance out of the hand of the foe. The first of these two strophes (Psalm 71:1-3) is taken from Psalm 31:2-4, the second (Psalm 71:4-6, with the exception of Psalm 71:4 and Psalm 71:6) from Psalm 22:10-11; both, however, in comparison with Psalm 70:1-5 exhibit the far more encroaching variations of a poet who reproduces the language of others with a freer hand. Olshausen wishes to read מעוז in Psalm 71:3, Psalm 90:1; Psalm 91:9, instead of מעון, which he holds to be an error in writing. But this old Mosaic, Deuteronomial word (vid., on Psalm 90:1) - cf. the post-biblical oath המעון (by the Temple!) - is unassailable. Jahve, who is called a rock of refuge in Psalm 31:3, is here called a rock of habitation, i.e., a high rock that cannot be stormed or scaled, which affords a safe abode; and this figure is pursued still further with a bold remodelling of the text of Psalm 31:3 : לבוא תּמיד, constantly to go into, i.e., which I can constantly, and therefore always, as often as it is needful, betake myself for refuge. The additional צוּית is certainly not equivalent to צוּה; it would more likely be equivalent to אשׁר צוית; but probably it is an independent clause: Thou hast (in fact) commanded, i.e., unalterably determined (Psalm 44:5; Psalm 68:29; Psalm 133:3), to show me salvation, for my rock, etc. To the words לבוא תמיד צוית corresponds the expression לבית מצודות in Psalm 31:3, which the lxx renders καὶ εἰς οἶκον καταφυγῆς, whereas instead of the former three words it has καὶ εἰς τόπον ὀχυρόν, and seems to have read לבית מבצרות, cf. Daniel 11:15 (Hitzig). In Psalm 71:5, Thou art my hope reminds one of the divine name מקוה ישׂראל in Jeremiah 17:13; Jeremiah 50:7 (cf. ἡ ἐλπίς ἡμῶν used of Christ in 1 Timothy 1:1; Colossians 1:27). נסמכתּי is not less beautiful than השׁלכתּי in Psalm 22:11. In its incipient slumbering state (cf. Psalm 3:6), and in its self-conscious continuance. He was and is the upholding prop and the supporting foundation, so to speak, of my life. And גוזי instead of גּחי in Psalm 22:10, is just such another felicitous modification. It is impracticable to define the meaning of this גוזי according to גּזה equals גּזה, Arab. jz', retribuere (prop. to cut up, distribute), because גּמל is the representative of this Aramaeo-Arabic verb in the Hebrew. Still less, however, can it be derived from גּוּז, transire, the participle of which, if it would admit of a transitive meaning equals מוציאי (Targum), ought to be גּזי. The verb גּזה, in accordance with its radical signification of abscindere (root גז, synon. קץ, קד, קט, and the like), denotes in this instance the separating of the child from the womb of the mother, the retrospect going back from youth to childhood, and even to his birth. The lxx σκεπαστής (μου) is an erroneous reading for ἐκσπαστής, as is clear from Psalm 22:10, ὁ ἐκσπάσας με. הלּל בּ, Psalm 44:9 (cf. שׂיח בּ, Psalm 69:13), is at the bottom of the expression in Psalm 71:6. The God to whom he owes his being, and its preservation thus far, is the constant, inexhaustible theme of his praise.