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Psalm 71 · a question people ask

"You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth" (71:20). Is this about coming back from death?

In the text

The verse reads in full: "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" (71:20). In Hebrew depths is tehomot, the plural of the word for "the deep" in "Darkness was on the surface of the deep" (Genesis 1:2). The psalm doesn't say whether it means death itself or troubles as deep as death, and it goes straight on: "Increase my honor and comfort me again" (71:21). Other psalms speak of the depths in their own ways and with other Hebrew words, as "You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths" (Psalm 88:6) and "You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol" (Psalm 86:13). These notes don't choose how to read 71:20, and they draw no line from it to Jesus' rising, because no New Testament verse quotes it.

The verses

“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. Increase my honor and comfort me again.”
Psalm 71:20-21 · World English Bible
“The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.”
Genesis 1:2 · World English Bible
“You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.”
Psalm 88:6 · World English Bible
“For your loving kindness is great toward me. You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.”
Psalm 86:13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 71

Psalm 71: Even when I am old

The Hebrew word ziqnah, old age, is in the Psalms only twice, and both are here (71:9, 71:18). In 71:18 it stands beside gray-haired, the same pair God uses in "Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you" (Isaiah 46:4). And a psalm that opens "Never let me be disappointed" (71:1) ends "they are disappointed" (71:24), one Hebrew verb.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions