Psalms 86:11-17

11 Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.

12 I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore.

13 For great is Your mercy toward me, And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

14 O God, the proud have risen against me, And a mob of violent men have sought my life, And have not set You before them.

15 But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.

16 Oh, turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give Your strength to Your servant, And save the son of Your maidservant.

17 Show me a sign for good, That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, Because You, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

Psalms 86:11-17 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.