What Does Psalm 71:9 Mean?
Do not throw me off in the time of old age; do not leave me when my strength runs out.
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
Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.THE KEY
The verse gives a name to the fear of being discarded precisely when strength runs out.
THE MEANING
Age and failing strength are named without disguise, and the fear of being thrown away is brought directly to God. This is a prayer for God’s presence precisely when personal capacity runs out. It lets dependence be voiced without treating diminished strength as diminished worth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
When my strength fails, I lose the right to ask God not to leave me.
THE ROOT
תַּשְׁלִיכֵנִי
tashlikheni
GROWS FROM
שלך
š-l-k
To throw, cast, or fling away.
“throw me off” in this verse is tashlikheni. The verb carries the force of being thrown away, not merely feeling lonely. It makes the fear concrete: that age might make the speaker seem disposable.
ALSO GROWS
hishlikh: He threw or cast.
הִשְׁלִיךְ
This verbal form keeps the physical force of the plea visible: the speaker fears being cast away.
shlikhah: Throwing or disposal.
שְׁלִיכָה
This noun makes the image of being discarded explicit.
כְּכַלּוֹת
kekhalot
GROWS FROM
כלה
k-l-h
To finish, come to an end, or be spent.
“when my strength runs out” in this verse is kekhalot. The phrase pictures strength reaching its end, not simply having a weak moment. The plea names the point when the speaker’s capacity is spent.
ALSO GROWS
kalah: To be finished or come to an end.
כָּלָה
The verb shows the ending built into the phrase about failing strength.
killayon: Destruction or complete consumption.
כִּלָּיוֹן
This noun carries the root’s sense of something reaching a total end.
תַּעַזְבֵנִי
ta'azveni
GROWS FROM
עזב
ʿ-z-b
To leave, abandon, or relinquish.
“do not leave me” in this verse is ta'azveni. Alongside the image of being thrown away, the verse names the fear of being left when help is most needed. The two pleas hold together active rejection and abandonment.
ALSO GROWS
ʿazuvah: Forsaken or abandoned.
עָזוּבָה
This form from the same root names the condition the speaker fears.
ʿazuv: Abandoned or left behind.
עָזוּב
This branch makes the plea’s fear of being left explicit.
THE PATTERN
Bodily decline does not erase the possibility of continuing care and fruitfulness.
Even to old age I AM, and to gray hair I will bear you. I have made, and I will lift, I will bear, and I will slip you free.They still bear fruit in gray hair; they are fat and green.Therefore we do not give out; though our outer person is worn through, yet our inner person is made new day after day.THE THREAD
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.Verse 18 repeats עזב (ʿazav, leave or abandon), the root behind “forsake” in verse 9, and names old age directly. It extends the plea toward the next generation, where God’s strength is still to be made known.
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