Psalms 86

1 {A Prayer of David.} Incline thine ear, Jehovah, answer me; for I am afflicted and needy.

2 Keep my soul, for I am godly; O thou my God, save thy servant who confideth in thee.

3 Be gracious unto me, O Lord; for unto thee do I call all the day.

4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant; for unto thee, Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and art of great loving-kindness unto all that call upon thee.

6 Give ear, O Jehovah, unto my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplications.

7 In the day of my distress I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me.

8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee, Lord, and there is nothing like unto thy works.

9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name.

10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God, thou alone.

11 Teach me thy way, Jehovah; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart; and I will glorify thy name for evermore.

13 For great is thy loving-kindness toward me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.

14 O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assembly of the violent seek after my soul, and they have not set thee before them.

15 But thou, Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth.

16 Turn toward me, and be gracious unto me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.

17 Shew me a token for good, that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed; for thou, Jehovah, hast helped me 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or 'pious,' 'holy,' chasid, one who is the object of God's loving-kindness (chesed): see ver. 13 and Ps. 85.7,10, and Note to Ps. 4.3; and, by way of contrast, Ps. 43.1.
• [b]. Lit. 'forgiving.'
• [c]. Or 'thank;' and so Ps. 88.10.
• [d]. Or 'loving-kindness,' chesed, as in vers. 5,13, and Ps. 103.8: see Ex. 34.6.

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.