Psalms 86:4-14

4 Make glad the soul of your servant; for it is lifted up to you, O Lord.

5 You are good, O Lord, and full of forgiveness; your mercy is great to all who make their cry to you.

6 O Lord, give ear to my prayer; and take note of the sound of my requests.

7 In the day of my trouble I send up my cry to you; for you will give me an answer.

8 There is no god like you, O Lord; there are no works like your works.

9 Let all the nations whom you have made come and give worship to you, O Lord, giving glory to your name.

10 For you are great, and do great works of wonder; you only are God.

11 Make your way clear to me, O Lord; I will go on my way in your faith: let my heart be glad in the fear of your name.

12 I will give you praise, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will give glory to your name for ever.

13 For your mercy to me is great; you have taken my soul up from the deep places of the underworld.

14 O God, men of pride have come up against me, and the army of violent men would take my life; they have not put you before them.

Psalms 86:4-14 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.