Psalms 86:1-7

1 A Prayer of David. Incline, O Jehovah, Thine ear, Answer me, for I [am] poor and needy.

2 Keep my soul, for I [am] pious, Save Thy servant -- who is trusting to Thee, O Thou, my God.

3 Favour me, O Lord, for to Thee I call all the day.

4 Rejoice the soul of Thy servant, For unto Thee, O Lord, my soul I lift up.

5 For Thou, Lord, [art] good and forgiving. And abundant in kindness to all calling Thee.

6 Hear, O Jehovah, my prayer, And attend to the voice of my supplications.

7 In a day of my distress I call Thee, For Thou dost answer me.

Psalms 86:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

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.