What Does Psalm 71:18 Mean?
And even when my beard is grey, God, do not let go of me, until I set forth your arm to the generation, and your might to all who are coming.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.THE KEY
Your old age stands inside an ongoing transmission: the might you declare now is meant to reach the generation still to come.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks into your later years as a continuing season of witness: you ask not to be left while God’s strength is still being made known through you. The next generation remains within the horizon of your life, so age and testimony stand together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that old age makes a person’s witness obsolete: these grayheaded years still have a reach beyond the present.
THE ROOT
גְּבוּרָתְךָ
geburatkha
GROWS FROM
גבר
To be strong, to prevail.
“your might” in this verse is geburatkha. The Hebrew גְּבוּרָה (gevurah, might) belongs to the same root family as גִּבּוֹר (gibbor, mighty one). The verse presents God’s prevailing might as something declared onward, its reach extending beyond the speaker’s gray hair.
ALSO GROWS
gibbor: Mighty one
גִּבּוֹר
This related word names one marked by strength or valor, giving the verse’s ‘power’ a personal, active quality.
gever: Man; strong man
גֶּבֶר
This related form links the root of might to human strength, sharpening the contrast between changing human years and God’s prevailing power.
אַגִּיד
aggid
GROWS FROM
נגד
To declare, make known, or set before.
“shewed” in this verse is aggid. The Hebrew verb אַגִּיד (aggid, I will declare) carries the sense of making something known, while נֶגֶד (neged, before or in front of) belongs to the same root family. The verse’s ‘showing’ is not only display: God’s might is set before the next generation through a living declaration.
ALSO GROWS
maggid: One who tells or announces
מַגִּיד
This related form makes the act of declaring visible as a role: God’s strength reaches others through someone who tells of it.
neged: Before; in front of
נֶגֶד
This related form illuminates the verse’s forward-facing witness: God’s might is placed before those who are yet to come.
THE PATTERN
God’s works and might are carried forward when one generation makes them known to the next.
We will not hide them from their children, recounting to the generation that follows the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonders that he has done.Recount it to your children, and let your children recount it to their children, and their children to another generation.And these things you heard from me among many witnesses, place beside steady people who will be able to teach others also.THE THREAD
We will not hide them from their children, recounting to the generation that follows the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonders that he has done.Both verses use דּוֹר (dor, generation) for those who follow. Psalm 78:4 makes explicit what Psalm 71:18 holds in one person’s prayer: God’s strength is declared so it can reach the generation coming after.
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