Read
Psalm 71:20
You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, you will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.
18Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared your strength to the next generation, your might to everyone who is to come.
19God, your righteousness also reaches to the heavens. You have done great things. God, who is like you?
20You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, you will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.
21Increase my honor and comfort me again.
22I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God. I sing praises to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel.
Notice
The God addressed as having shown “many and bitter troubles” is also trusted to bring life again, a tension the prayer leaves unexplained.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What would you want to say to God about the words “shown us many and bitter troubles”?
Write on thisWhere, if anywhere, do you find yourself longing to be brought “up again”?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 34:19Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.Both describe troubles as many and express confidence that God will deliver those who suffer.
Psalm 138:7Though I walk in the middle of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies. Your right hand will save me.Both address God from within trouble and trust him to restore life.
Psalm 40:2He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.Psalm 71 anticipates being brought up from the depths; Psalm 40 recounts God bringing the speaker out of a pit.
Hosea 6:1–2“Come! Let’s return to the LORD; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.Both attribute suffering to God while looking to that same God for restored life or healing.
Psalm 60:3You have shown your people hard things. You have made us drink the wine that makes us stagger.Both address God as the one who has shown his people hardship, using bitter troubles and staggering drunkenness to describe suffering.
Isaiah 26:19Your dead shall live. Their dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast …Both connect life with rising from the earth, though Isaiah names dead bodies while Psalm 71 uses the language of depths.
Ezekiel 37:12–13Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, my people; and I will …Both describe God bringing his people up from below; Ezekiel names graves and promises return to the land of Israel.
Hosea 13:14I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? “Compassion will be …Both use language of rescue from death or the earth's depths; Hosea also includes a stark statement about withheld compassion.
Colossians 2:13You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,Both credit God with giving life; Colossians speaks of being made alive with Christ and receiving forgiveness of trespasses.
Jonah 2:6I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever; yet you have brought my life up from the pit, LORD my God.Both describe descent into the earth and God bringing life up again; Jonah recounts the rescue Psalm 71 anticipates.
Ecclesiastes 12:2Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;The shared thread is limited to distress pictured through the natural world: earth's depths in Psalm 71, darkened lights and returning clouds in Ecclesiastes.
Mark 16:6He said to them, “Don’t be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him!Psalm 71 trusts God for life from the depths; Mark announces that the crucified Jesus has risen.
Where this verse fits
Grief. illness or diagnosis. aging.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Bitter troubles have a place in speech addressed to God. The psalm's confidence rests in his power to bring life again, even while comfort is still being sought.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 71:20. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
Keep goingPsalm 71 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms
Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).