Salmi 86

1 Preghiera di Davide. Inclina l’orecchio tuo, o Eterno, e rispondimi, perché io sono afflitto e misero.

2 Proteggi l’anima mia, perché sono di quelli che t’amano. Tu, mio Dio, salva il tuo servitore che confida in te!

3 Abbi pietà di me, o Signore, perché io grido a te tutto il giorno.

4 Rallegra l’anima del tuo servitore, perché a te, o Signore, io elevo l’anima mia.

5 Poiché tu, o Signore, sei buono, pronto a perdonare, e di gran benignità verso tutti quelli che t’invocano.

6 Porgi l’orecchio, o Eterno, alla mia preghiera, e sii attento alla voce delle mie supplicazioni.

7 Io t’invoco nel giorno della mia distretta, perché tu mi risponderai.

8 Non v’è nessuno pari a te fra gli dèi, o Signore, né vi sono alcune opere pari alle tue.

9 Tutte le nazioni che tu hai fatte verranno ad adorare nel tuo cospetto, o Signore, e glorificheranno il tuo nome.

10 Poiché tu sei grande e fai maraviglie; tu solo sei Dio.

11 O Eterno, insegnami la tua via; io camminerò nella tua verità; unisci il mio cuore al timor del tuo nome.

12 Io ti celebrerò, Signore, Iddio mio, con tutto il mio cuore, e glorificherò il tuo nome in perpetuo.

13 Perché grande è la tua benignità verso me, e tu hai riscossa l’anima mia dal fondo del soggiorno de’ morti.

14 O Dio, gente superba s’è levata contro di me, e una turba di violenti cerca l’anima mia, e non pongono te davanti agli occhi loro.

15 Ma tu, o Signore, sei un Dio pietoso e misericordioso, lento all’ira e grande in benignità e in verità.

16 Volgiti a me, ed abbi pietà di me; da’ la tua forza al tuo servitore, e salva il figliuolo della tua servente.

17 Mostrami un segno del tuo favore, onde quelli che m’odiano lo veggano e sian confusi, perché tu, o Eterno, m’avrai soccorso e consolato.

Salmi 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.