Psalms 86

1 A prayer of David: Listen, ADONAI, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.

2 Preserve my life, for I am faithful; save your servant, who puts his trust in you because you are my God.

3 Take pity on me, Adonai, for I cry to you all day.

4 Fill your servant's heart with joy, for to you, Adonai, I lift my heart.

5 Adonai, you are kind and forgiving, full of grace toward all who call on you.

6 Listen, ADONAI, to my prayer; pay attention to my pleading cry.

7 On the day of my trouble I am calling on you, for you will answer me.

8 There is none like you among the gods, Adonai; no deeds compare with yours.

9 All the nations you have made will come and bow before you, Adonai; they will honor your name.

10 For you are great, and you do wonders; you alone are God.

11 ADONAI, teach me your way, so that I can live by your truth; make me single-hearted, so that I can fear your name.

12 I will thank you, Adonai my God, with my whole heart; and I will glorify your name forever.

13 For your grace toward me is so great! You have rescued me from the lowest part of Sh'ol.

14 God, arrogant men are rising against me, a gang of brutes is seeking my life, and to you they pay no attention.

15 But you, Adonai, are a merciful, compassionate God, slow to anger and rich in grace and truth.

16 Turn to me, and show me your favor; strengthen your servant, save your slave-girl's son. Give me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me will see it and be ashamed, because you, ADONAI, have helped and comforted me.

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.