Psalms 71:5-7

71:5 For you give me confidence, ¹  O Lord;

O Lord, I have trusted in you since I was young. ² 

71:6 I have leaned on you since birth; ³ 

you pulled me ⁴  from my mother’s womb.

I praise you continually. ⁵ 

71:7 Many are appalled when they see me, ⁶ 

but you are my secure shelter.

[71:5]  ¹ tn Heb “for you [are] my hope.”

[71:5]  ² tn Heb “O Lord, my source of confidence from my youth.”

[71:6]  ³ tn Heb “from the womb.”

[71:6]  ⁴ tc The form in the MT is derived from גָזָה (gazah, “to cut off”), perhaps picturing God as the one who severed the psalmist’s umbilical cord. Many interpreters and translators prefer to emend the text to גֹחִי (gokhiy), from גוּח (gukh) or גִיח, (gikh, “pull out”; see Ps 22:9; cf. the present translation) or to עוּזִּי (’uzziy, “my strength”; cf. NEB “my protector since I left my mother’s womb”).

[71:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “in you [is] my praise continually.”

[71:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “like a sign [i.e., portent or bad omen] I am to many.”