but from my youth I raised the orphan ¹  like a father, and from my mother’s womb ²  I guided the widow! ³ 

For you give me confidence, ¹  O Lord; O Lord, I have trusted in you since I was young. ² 

O God, you have taught me since I was young, and I am still declaring ¹  your amazing deeds.

A song of ascents. ²  “Since my youth they have often attacked me,” let Israel say.

“Since my youth they have often attacked me, but they have not defeated me.

Instead he will say, ‘I am no prophet – indeed, I am a farmer, for a man has made me his indentured servant since my youth.’ ¹ 

And I said, “Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat ¹  has never entered my mouth.”