Psalms 86 · ESV Study Bible

Great Is Your Steadfast Love

PSALM 86 [†] j Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me,

for I am k poor and needy.

2[^] Preserve my life, for I am l godly;

save your servant, who m trusts in you—you are my God.

3 n Be gracious to me, O Lord,

for to you do I cry all the day.

4 Gladden the soul of your servant,

for o to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5 For you, O Lord, are good and p forgiving,

q abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

6 r Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;

listen to my plea for grace.

7 In s the day of my trouble I call upon you,

t for you answer me.

8[†] There is u none like you among the gods, O Lord,

v nor are there any works like yours.

9[^] w All the nations you have made shall come

and worship before you, O Lord,

and shall glorify your name.

10 For x you are great and y do wondrous things;

z you alone are God.

11[^][†] a Teach me your way, O LORD,

that I may b walk in your truth;

c unite my heart to fear your name.

12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,

and I will glorify your name forever.

13[†] d For great is your steadfast love toward me;

you have e delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

14[†] O God, insolent men have f risen up against me;

a band of ruthless men seeks my life,

and they do not set you before them.

15 But you, O Lord, are a God g merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

16 h Turn to me and be gracious to me;

give your strength to i your servant,

and save i the son of your maidservant.

17 j Show me a sign of your k favor,

that those who hate me may see and be put to shame

because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

A Psalm of l the Sons of Korah. A Song.

PSALM—NOTE ON 86:13 Sheol. See note on 6:5.

PSALM—NOTE ON 86:1–7 Save Your Servant, Who Trusts in You. The beginning of the psalm is a general call for help (preserve my life, save your servant), without specifying the nature of the trouble—that will come in the third section (vv. 14–17). The person praying offers reasons that God should answer, as indicated by the clauses introduced by for in vv. 2–5: first is the genuineness of his faith (v. 2, I am godly … who trusts in you); second is the earnestness with which he prays, relying on the Lord, not other gods (vv. 3–4, to you do I cry all the day … to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul); and third is the crucial confession of God’s benevolent character, as revealed in the Pentateuch (v. 5, you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you). Thus everyone who sings this prayer from the heart may be assured of God’s attention.

PSALM—NOTE ON 86:11 Teach me your way. Cf. 25:8, 12; 27:11; 32:8 (and note on 25:4–5). The Bible regularly pictures the moral course of one’s life as a “way” or path, and one’s conduct as a “walk” or journey. A faithful person seeks instruction in the ways that please God in order to learn how better to walk in God’s truth. Unite my heart, i.e., make it “one” (cf. Jer. 32:39), undivided in its loyalty (so that all of it can give thanks, Ps. 86:12).

PSALM—NOTE ON Psalm 86. This is an individual lament, geared (as many of these laments are) to a situation in which “a band of insolent men seek my life” (v. 14). The psalm confesses that the Lord is “good and forgiving” (v. 5), acknowledging that the singer’s own sins may have contributed to his enemies’ plans. The psalmist explicitly grounds his request in Ex. 34:6, a fundamental confessional statement of the OT (Ps. 86:15; cf. vv. 5, 13); he also prays for a “united” heart to live faithfully to God (v. 11). The middle of the psalm strikingly professes faith in one God, to whom all nations shall come (vv. 8–10)—another vital OT theme. This is the only psalm of David in Book 3 of the Psalms; the last one encountered was Psalm 70, and the next one will be Psalm 101.