Psalm 86

1 O Lord, incline thine ear, and hearken to me; for I am poor and needy.

2 Preserve my soul, for I am holy; save thy servant, O God, who hopes in thee.

3 Pity me, O Lord: for to thee will I cry all the day.

4 Rejoice the sold of thy servant: for to thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul.

5 For thou, O Lord, art kind, and gentle; and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee.

6 Give ear to my prayer, o Lord; and attend to the voice of my supplication.

7 In the day of my trouble I cried to thee: for thou didst hear me.

8 There is none like to thee, O Lord, among the god; and there are no works like to thy works.

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

10 For thou art great, and doest wonders: thou art the only and the great God.

11 Guide me, O Lord, in thy way, and I will walk in thy truth: let my heart rejoice, that I may fear thy name.

12 I will give thee thanks, O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify thy name for ever.

13 For thy mercy is great toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

14 O God, transgressors have risen up against me, and an assembly of violent men have sought my life; and have not set thee before them.

15 But thou, O Lord God, art compassionate and merciful, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy and true.

16 Look thou upon me, and have mercy upon me: give thy strength to thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.

17 Establish with me a token for good; and let them that hate me see it and be ashamed; because thou, O Lord, hast helped me, and comforted me.

Psalm 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.