Psalms 86

1 <> Hear, Yahweh, and answer me, For I am poor and needy.

2 Preserve my soul, for I am godly. You, my God, save your servant who trusts in you.

3 Be merciful to me, Lord, For I call to you all day long.

4 Bring joy to the soul of your servant, For to you, Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5 For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; Abundant in lovingkindness to all those who call on you.

6 Hear, Yahweh, my prayer. Listen to the voice of my petitions.

7 In the day of my trouble I will call on you, For you will answer me.

8 There is no one like you among the gods, Lord, Nor any deeds like your deeds.

9 All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord. They shall glorify your name.

10 For you are great, and do wondrous things. You are God alone.

11 Teach me your way, Yahweh. I will walk in your truth. Make my heart undivided to fear your name.

12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with my whole heart. I will glorify your name forevermore.

13 For your lovingkindness is great toward me. You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.

14 God, the proud have risen up against me. A company of violent men have sought after my soul, And they don't hold regard for you before them.

15 But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, Slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

16 Turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give your strength to your servant. Save the son of your handmaid.

17 Show me a sign of your goodness, That those who hate me may see it, and be put to shame, Because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me.

Psalms 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.