Psalms 86

1 Lord, listen to me and answer me. I am poor and helpless.

2 Protect me, because I worship you. My God, save me, your servant who trusts in you.

3 Lord, have mercy on me, because I have called to you all day.

4 Give happiness to me, your servant, because I give my life to you, Lord.

5 Lord, you are kind and forgiving and have great love for those who call to you.

6 Lord, hear my prayer, and listen when I ask for mercy.

7 I call to you in times of trouble, because you will answer me.

8 Lord, there is no god like you and no works like yours.

9 Lord, all the nations you have made will come and worship you. They will honor you.

10 You are great and you do miracles. Only you are God.

11 Lord, teach me what you want me to do, and I will live by your truth. Teach me to respect you completely.

12 Lord, my God, I will praise you with all my heart, and I will honor your name forever.

13 You have great love for me. You have saved me from death.

14 God, proud men are attacking me; a gang of cruel men is trying to kill me. They do not respect you.

15 But Lord, you are a God who shows mercy and is kind. You don't become angry quickly. You have great love and faithfulness.

16 Turn to me and have mercy. Give me, your servant, strength. Save me, the son of your female servant.

17 Show me a sign of your goodness. When my enemies look, they will be ashamed. You, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

Psalms 86 Commentary

Chapter 86

The psalmist pleads his earnestness, and the mercy of God, as reasons why his prayer should be heard. (1-7) He renews his requests for help and comfort. (8-17)

Verses 1-7 Our poverty and wretchedness, when felt, powerfully plead in our behalf at the throne of grace. The best self-preservation is to commit ourselves to God's keeping. I am one whom thou favourest, hast set apart for thyself, and made partaker of sanctifying grace. It is a great encouragement to prayer, to feel that we have received the converting grace of God, have learned to trust in him, and to be his servants. We may expect comfort from God, when we keep up our communion with God. God's goodness appears in two things, in giving and forgiving. Whatever others do, let us call upon God, and commit our case to him; we shall not seek in vain.

Verses 8-17 Our God alone possesses almighty power and infinite love. Christ is the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous to be taught the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous to be taught the way and the truth of God, in order to walk therein, than to be delivered out of earthly distress. Those who set not the Lord before them, seek after believers' souls; but the compassion, mercy, and truth of God, will be their refuge and consolation. And those whose parents were the servants of the Lord, may urge this as a plea why he should hear and help them. In considering David's experience, and that of the believer, we must not lose sight of Him, who though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 86

\\<>\\. The title is the same with the Seventeenth Psalm, and the subject of it is much alike: it was written by David, when in distress, and his life was sought after; very likely when he was persecuted by Saul, and fled from him; so Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi: and as he was a type of Christ in his afflictions, as well as in his exalted state, it may not be unfitly applied to him, as it is by some interpreters. The Syriac inscription of it is, ``for David, when he built an house for the Lord; and a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles; and moreover, a prayer of a peculiar righteous man.'' Theodoret thinks it predicts the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians, and Hezekiah's hope in God.