Psalms 86:1-6

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.

Psalms 86:1-6 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.

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.'