Psalms 86:11-17

11 Lord, lead thou me forth in thy way, and I shall enter in thy truth; mine heart be glad, that it dread thy name. (Lord, lead thou me forth in thy way, and I shall walk in thy truth; let my heart be glad, that I fear thy name/that I revere thy name.)

12 My Lord God, I shall acknowledge to thee in all mine heart; and I shall glorify thy name [into] without end. (My Lord God, I shall praise thee with all my heart; and I shall glorify thy name forever.)

13 For thy mercy is great on me; and thou deliveredest my soul from the lower hell. (For thy love is great towards me; and thou hast rescued my soul from the depths of Sheol, or the land of the dead/and thou hast rescued my soul from the grave itself.)

14 God, wicked men have risen upon me; and the synagogue of mighty men have sought my life; and they have not set forth thee in their sight. (God, the wicked have risen against me; and a company of mighty men have sought my life; and they have no thought of thee.)

15 And thou, Lord God, doing mercy, and merciful; patient, and of much mercy, and soothfast. (But thou, Lord, art a God who giveth love, and art merciful; yea, thou art patient, and hath great love, and art faithful.)

16 Behold on me, and have mercy on me, give thou the empire to thy servant; and make thou safe the son of thine handmaid. (Turn to me, and have mercy on me; give thou thy strength to thy servant, and save thou the son of thy servantess.)

17 Make thou with me a sign in(to) good, that they see, that hate me, and be ashamed (Show thou me a sign of thy goodness, so that those who hate me can see it, and be ashamed); (yea,) for thou, Lord, hast helped me/hast holpen me, and hast 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.