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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Psalm 86 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/psalms/86.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/psalms/86.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/psalms/86-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../psalms/">Psalm</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../psalms/85.htm" title="Psalm 85">◄</a> Psalm 86 <a href="../psalms/87.htm" title="Psalm 87">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld"> LXXXVI</span><p>This psalm is mainly composed of a number of sentences and verses from older compositions, arranged not without art, and, where it suited the adapter, so altered as to present forms of words peculiar to himself. (See Notes on <a href="/context/psalms/86-5.htm" title="For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy to all them that call on you.">Psalm 86:5-6</a>.) There is also evidence of design in the employment of the Divine names, Adonai being repeatedly substituted for Jehovah.<p><span class= "ital">Title.</span>—See end of Psalms 42 and Introduction above.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/86-1.htm">Psalm 86:1</a></div><div class="verse">A Prayer of David. Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I <i>am</i> poor and needy.</div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/86-2.htm">Psalm 86:2</a></div><div class="verse">Preserve my soul; for I <i>am</i> holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">For I am holy.</span>—Rather, in order to reproduce the feeling, <span class= "ital">for I am one of the chosen ones; one of Thy saints, &c. </span>He pleads the covenant relation as a claim to the blessing. (See, on <span class= "ital">chasid, </span>Note, <a href="/psalms/1-5.htm" title="Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.">Psalm 1:5</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/86-5.htm">Psalm 86:5</a></div><div class="verse">For thou, Lord, <i>art</i> good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">For thou.</span>—Up to this time the psalmist has only put forward his needs in various aspects as a plea for God’s compassion. Now, not without art, he clenches his petition by an appeal to the nature itself of the Divine Being. The originals of the expressions in this verse will be found in <a href="/exodus/20-6.htm" title="And showing mercy to thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.">Exodus 20:6</a>; <a href="/context/exodus/34-6.htm" title="And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,">Exodus 34:6-9</a>; <a href="/context/numbers/14-18.htm" title="The LORD is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.">Numbers 14:18-19</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Ready to forgive.</span>—The Hebrew word occurs nowhere else in the form found here. Etymologically it means <span class= "ital">remitting. </span>The LXX. have <span class= "greekheb">ἐπιεικὴς</span><span class= "ital">, </span>a word for which perhaps our <span class= "ital">considerate </span>is the nearest equivalent, implying that legal right is overlooked and suspended in consideration of human weakness. <a href="//apocrypha.org/wisdom_of_solomon/12-18.htm" title="But thou, mastering thy power, judgest with equity, and orderest us with great favour: for thou mayest use power when thou wilt.">Wisdom Of Solomon 12:18</a> gives a good description of this Divine attribute.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/86-6.htm">Psalm 86:6</a></div><div class="verse">Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">Give ear.</span>—Here the petition takes a new starting-point.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/86-8.htm">Psalm 86:8</a></div><div class="verse">Among the gods <i>there is</i> none like unto thee, O Lord; neither <i>are there any works</i> like unto thy works.</div>(8) For the sources of this verse see marginal reference and <a href="/exodus/15-11.htm" title="Who is like to you, O LORD, among the gods? who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?">Exodus 15:11</a>. After expressing his conviction of God’s <span class= "ital">willingness </span>to hear prayer, the psalmist goes on to his confidence in Divine power to save.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/86-9.htm">Psalm 86:9</a></div><div class="verse">All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.</div>(9) For this wide prospect of Divine dominion see <a href="/psalms/22-31.htm" title="They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, that he has done this.">Psalm 22:31</a>; <a href="/isaiah/43-7.htm" title="Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yes, I have made him.">Isaiah 43:7</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/86-11.htm">Psalm 86:11</a></div><div class="verse">Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.</div>(11) A reminiscence of older psalms. In addition to the marginal references, see <a href="/psalms/26-3.htm" title="For your loving kindness is before my eyes: and I have walked in your truth.">Psalm 26:3</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Unite my heart</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>unite all my powers and concentrate them on Thy service. No doubt with recollection of <a href="/deuteronomy/6-5.htm" title="And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.">Deuteronomy 6:5</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/10-12.htm" title="And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,">Deuteronomy 10:12</a>. Comp. also <a href="/jeremiah/32-39.htm" title="And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:">Jeremiah 32:39</a>, on which apparently the expression is directly based. An undivided will is in morals and religion equally essential.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/86-12.htm">Psalm 86:12</a></div><div class="verse">I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.</div>(12, 13) Comp. <a href="/psalms/56-13.htm" title="For you have delivered my soul from death: will not you deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?">Psalm 56:13</a>; <a href="/context/psalms/57-9.htm" title="I will praise you, O Lord, among the people: I will sing to you among the nations.">Psalm 57:9-10</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/86-13.htm">Psalm 86:13</a></div><div class="verse">For great <i>is</i> thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Lowest hell.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">sheôl, beneath, </span>a fuller expression for the usual <span class= "ital">sheôl, underworld. </span>(See Note, <a href="/psalms/6-5.htm" title="For in death there is no remembrance of you: in the grave who shall give you thanks?">Psalm 6:5</a>.) There is no comparison implied as in the Authorised Version. It is evident from the next verse that what is meant is <span class= "ital">danger of death from violence.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/86-14.htm">Psalm 86:14</a></div><div class="verse">O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent <i>men</i> have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them.</div>(14) See Note, <a href="/psalms/54-3.htm" title="For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.">Psalm 54:3</a>, whence the verse is taken.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/86-16.htm">Psalm 86:16</a></div><div class="verse">O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Servant . . .</span> <span class= "bld">son of thine handmaid.</span>—Comp. <a href="/psalms/116-16.htm" title="O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, and the son of your handmaid: you have loosed my bonds.">Psalm 116:16</a>. The combined expressions imply a <span class= "ital">homeborn slave. </span>(Comp. <a href="/genesis/14-14.htm" title="And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them to Dan.">Genesis 14:14</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/2-14.htm" title="Is Israel a servant? is he a home born slave? why is he spoiled?">Jeremiah 2:14</a>)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/86-17.htm">Psalm 86:17</a></div><div class="verse">Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see <i>it</i>, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">A token for good</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>some sign of continued or renewed providential care and love, such, indeed, as an Israelite under the old covenant saw, and every pious heart under the new sees, in what to others is an every-day occurrence. The expression <span class= "ital">for good </span>is a favourite one with Nehemiah (<a href="/nehemiah/5-19.htm" title="Think on me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.">Nehemiah 5:19</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/13-31.htm" title="And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the first fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.">Nehemiah 13:31</a>) and Jeremiah (<a href="/context/jeremiah/24-5.htm" title="Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.">Jeremiah 24:5-6</a>, and comp. <a href="/romans/8-28.htm" title="And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.">Romans 8:28</a>. &c).<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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