Psalm 85 commentary

PSALM 85 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A
psalm.
I TRODUCTIO
SPURGEO , "Title. To the Chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. There is
no need to repeat our observations upon a title which is of so frequent occurrence;
the reader is referred to notes placed in the headings of preceding psalms. Yet it
may not be out of place to quote ehemiah 12:46. In the days of David and Asaph of
old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.
Object and Occasion. It is the prayer of a patriot for his afflicted country, in which
he pleads the Lord's former mercies, and by faith foresees brighter days. We believe
that David wrote it, but many question that assertion. Certain interpreters appear
to grudge the psalmist David the authorship of any of the psalms, and refer the
sacred songs by wholesale to the times of Hezekiah, Josiah, the Captivity, and the
Maccabees. It is remarkable that, as a rule, the more sceptical a writer is, the more
resolute is he to have done with David; while the purely evangelic annotators are for
the most part content to leave the royal poet in the chair of authorship. The charms
of a new theory also operate greatly upon writers who would have nothing at all to
say if they did not invent a novel hypothesis, and twist the language of the psalm in
order to justify it. The present psalm has of course been referred to the Captivity,
the critics could not resist the temptation to do that, though, for our part we see no
need to do so: it is true a captivity is mentioned in Psalms 85:1, but that does not
necessitate the nation's having been carried away into exile, since Job's captivity
was turned, and yet he had never left his native land: moreover, the text speaks of
the captivity of Jacob as brought back, but had it referred to the Babylonian
emigration, it would have spoken of Judah; for Jacob or Israel, as such, did not
return. The first verse in speaking of "the land" proves that the author was not an
exile. Our own belief is that David penned this national hymn when the land was
oppressed by the Philistines, and in the spirit of prophecy he foretold the peaceful
years of his own reign and the repose of the rule of Solomon, the psalm having all
along an inner sense of which Jesus and his salvation are the key. The presence of
Jesus the Saviour reconciles earth and heaven, and secures to us the golden age, the
balmy days of universal peace.
Divisions. In Psalms 85:1-4 the poet sings of the Lord's former mercies and begs him
to remember his people; from Psalms 85:5-7 he pleads the cause of afflicted Israel;

and then, having listened to the sacred oracle in Psalms 85:8, he publishes joyfully
the tidings of future good, Psalms 85:9-13.
COKE, "Title. ‫למנצח‬ ‫לבני‬ ‫קרח‬ ‫מזמור‬ lamnaeach libnei korach mizmor.— This psalm
is a thankful acknowledgment of God's mercy in turning their captivity, and an
humble prayer for the confirming, continuing, and perfecting this mercy. It has
some degree of application to David's return to Jerusalem after his flight from
Absalom; but much more to the days of Ezra and ehemiah, after the captivity.
After having in the first three verses acknowledged the goodness of God, in bringing
them back to their own land; from the fourth onward, the author prays God to
restore them again to their ancient prosperity. In the eighth he hears God's promise
to do it; upon which, in the four last verses he bursts forth into an exultation at the
prospect.
ELLICOTT, "There is more than the statement of its first verse (see ote) to
connect this psalm with the post-exile period. Its whole tone belongs to that time.
The attitude with regard to national sin explains itself only by this reference. The
punishment had fallen, and in the glad return Israel had seen a proof that God had
covered her guilt, and taken away her sin. But the bright prospect had quickly been
overclouded. The troubles that succeeded the return perplexed those who had come
back, as they felt purified and forgiven. Hence many such pathetic cries as those of
this psalm. In this particular instance, the cry, as we gather from Psalms 85:12,
arose from the dread of famine, which was always regarded as a judgment on
national sin. But, even as he utters his lament, the prophet (for the psalm has a true
prophetic ring, and is in the highest sense Messianic) sees the clouds break, and
hails the promise of abundant harvest, as he watches the sunshine of prosperity and
peace once more strike across the land. The rhythm arrangement is uncertain.
1 You, Lord, showed favor to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
BAR ES, "Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land - Margin, “well
pleased with.” The idea is that he had been kind or propitious to the nation; to wit, on
some former occasion. So Luther, (vormals) “formerly.” The reference is to some
previous period in their history, when he had exercised his power in their behalf.

Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob - That is, at the time referred to.
It is not necessary to suppose that the allusion is to the period immediately preceding
the time when the psalm was composed, but it may have been any period in their
history. Nor is it necessary to suppose that the people had been removed from their land
at the time, for all that would be necessary to suppose in interpreting the language would
be that the land had been invaded, even though the inhabitants still remained in it.
CLARKE, "Lord, thou hast been favorable - Literally, Thou hast been well
pleased with thy land.
Thou hast brought back the captivity - This seems to fix the time of the Psalm to
be after the return of the Jews from Babylon.
GILL, "Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land,.... The land of Canaan,
which the Lord chose for the people of Israel, and put them into the possession of it; and
where he himself chose to dwell, and had a sanctuary built for him; and therefore though
the whole earth is his, yet this was his land and inheritance in a peculiar manner, as it is
called, Jer_16:18, the inhabitants of it are meant, to whom the Lord was favourable, or
whom he graciously accepted, and was well pleased with and delighted in, as appears by
his choosing them above all people to be his people; by bringing them out of Egyptian
bondage, by leading them through the Red sea and wilderness, by feeding and protecting
them there; and by bringing them into the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and
honey, and settling them in it; and by many temporal blessings, and also spiritual ones,
as his word and ordinances; but especially by sending his own Son, the Messiah and
Saviour, unto them; and which perhaps is what is here principally intended:
thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob; or, "the captives" (m) of Jacob; in a
temporal sense, both out of Egypt, and out of Babylon; and in a spiritual sense from sin,
Satan, and the law; the special people of God often go by the name of Jacob, and these
are captives to the above mentioned; and redemption by Christ is a deliverance of them
from their captivity, or a bringing of it back, for he has led captivity captive; and in
consequence of this they are put into a state of freedom, liberty is proclaimed to these
captives, and they are delivered, and all as the fruit and effect of divine favour.
HE RY 1-3, "The church, in affliction and distress, is here, by direction from God,
making her application to God. So ready is God to hear and answer the prayers of his
people that by his Spirit in the word, and in the heart, he indites their petitions and puts
words into their mouths. The people of God, in a very low and weak condition, are here
taught how to address themselves to God.
I. They are to acknowledge with thankfulness the great things God had done for them
(Psa_85:1-3): “Thou has done so and so for us and our fathers.” Note, The sense of
present afflictions should not drown the remembrance of former mercies; but, even
when we are brought very low, we must call to remembrance past experiences of God's
goodness, which we must take notice of with thankfulness, to his praise. They speak of it
here with pleasure, 1. That God had shown himself propitious to their land, and had
smiled upon it as his own: “Thou hast been favourable to thy land, as thine, with
distinguishing favours.” Note, The favour of God is the spring-head of all good, and the

fountain of happiness, to nations, as well as to particular persons. It was by the favour of
God that Israel got and kept possession of Canaan (Psa_44:3); and, if he had not
continued very favourable to them, they would have been ruined many a time. 2. That he
had rescued them out of the hands of their enemies and restored them to their liberty:
“Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob, and settled those in their own land
again that had been driven out and were strangers in a strange land, prisoners in the
land of their oppressors.” The captivity of Jacob, though it may continue long, will be
brought back in due time. 3. That he had not dealt with them according to the desert of
their provocations (Psa_85:2): “Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, and not
punished them as in justice thou mightest. Thou hast covered all their sin.” When God
forgives sin he covers it; and, when he covers the sin of his people, he covers it all. The
bringing back of their captivity was then an instance of God's favour to them, when it
was accompanied with the pardon of their iniquity. 4. That he had not continued his
anger against them so far, and so long, as they had reason to fear (Psa_85:3): “Having
covered all their sin, thou hast taken away all thy wrath;” for when sin is set aside
God's anger ceases; God is pacified if we are purified. See what the pardon of sin is: Thou
hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, that is, “Thou hast turned thy anger from
waxing hot, so as to consume us in the flame of it. In compassion to us thou hast not
stirred up all thy wrath, but, when an intercessor has stood before thee in the gap, thou
hast turned away thy anger.”
JAMISO , "Psa_85:1-13. On the ground of former mercies, the Psalmist prays for
renewed blessings, and, confidently expecting them, rejoices.
captivity — not necessarily the Babylonian, but any great evil (Psa_14:7).
CALVI , "1O Jehovah! thou hast been favorable to thy land. Those who translate
these words in the future tense, in my opinion, mar their meaning. This psalm, it is
probable, was endited to be sung by the people when they were persecuted by the
cruel tyranny of Antiochus; and from the deliverance wrought for them in the past,
they were encouraged to expect in the future, fresh and continued tokens of the
divine favor, — God having thereby testified, that their sins, however numerous and
aggravated, could not efface from his memory the remembrance of his covenant, so
as to render him inexorable towards the children of Abraham, and deaf to their
prayers. (474) Had they not previously experienced such remarkable proofs of the
divine goodness, they must necessarily have been overwhelmed with the load of their
present afflictions, especially when so long protracted. The cause of their
deliverance from captivity they attribute to the free love with which God had
embraced the land which he had chosen for himself. Whence it follows, that the
course of his favor was unintermitted; and the faithful also were inspired with
confidence in prayer, by the reflection that, mindful of his choice, he had shown
himself merciful to his own land. We have elsewhere had occasion to remark, that
nothing contributes more effectually to encourage us to come to the throne of grace,
than the remembrance of God’s former benefits. Our faith would immediately
succumb under adversity, and sorrow would choke our hearts, were we not taught
to believe from the experience of the past, that he is inclined compassionately to hear
the prayers of his servants, and always affords them succor when the exigencies of
their circumstances require it; especially as there remains at all times the same

reason for continuing his goodness. Thus the prophet happily applies to believers of
his own day, the benefits which God in old time bestowed upon their fathers,
because both they and their fathers were called to the hope of the same inheritance.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 1. LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land. The self
existent, all sufficient JEHOVAH is addressed: by that name he revealed himself to
Moses when his people were in bondage, by that name he is here pleaded with. It is
wise to dwell upon that view of the divine character which arouses the sweetest
memories of his love. Sweeter still is that dear name of "Our Father, "with which
Christians have learned to commence their prayers. The psalmist speaks of Canaan
as the Lord's land, for he chose it for his people, conveyed it to them by covenant,
conquered it by his power, and dwelt in it in mercy; it was meet therefore that he
should smile upon a land so peculiarly his own. It is most wise to plead the Lord's
union of interest with ourselves, to lash our little boat as it were close to his great
barque, and experience a sacred community in the tossings of the storm. It is our
land that is devastated, but O Jehovah, it is also thy land. The psalmist dwells upon
the Lord's favour to the chosen land, which he had shewed in a thousand ways.
God's past doings are prophetic of what he will do; hence the encouraging
argumentâ€”"Thou hast been favourable unto thy land, "therefore deal graciously
with it again. Many a time had foes been baffled, pestilence stayed, famine averted,
and deliverance vouchsafed, because of the Lord's favour; that same favourable
regard is therefore again invoked. With an immutable God this is powerful
reasoning; it is because he changes not that we are not consumed, and know we
never shall be if he has once been favourable to us. From this example of prayer let
us learn how to order our cause before God. It is clear that Israel was not in exile, or
the prayer before us would not have referred to the land but to the nation.
Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. When down trodden and oppressed
through their sins, the Ever merciful One had looked upon them, changed their sad
condition, chased away the invaders, and given to his people rest: this he had done
not once, nor twice, but times without number. Many a time have we also been
brought into soul captivity by our backslidings, but we have not been left therein;
the God who brought Jacob back from Padanaram to his father's house, has
restored us to the enjoyment of holy fellowship; â€”will he not do the like again? Let
us appeal to him with Jacob like wrestlings, beseeching him to be favourable, or
sovereignly gracious to us notwithstanding all our provocations of his love. Let
declining churches remember their former history, and with holy confidence plead
with the Lord to turn their captivity yet again.
EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS
Whole Psalm. This beautiful psalm, like some others, has come down to us without
name or date; the production of some unknown poetic genius, touched, purified, and
exalted by the fire of celestial inspiration; a precious relic of that golden age, when
the Hebrew music was instinct with a spirit such as never breathed on Greece or
Rome. It is interesting to reflect on the anonymous origin of some of the psalms; to
remember how largely the church of God is indebted to some nameless worthies
who wrote for us hymns and spiritual songs, full of richer strains than were ever
poured forth by the most illustrious of pagan name. These holy men are passed

away, they have left no record of their history; but they have bequeathed legacies of
rich, varied, and inspired sentiments, which will render the church debtors to them
to the end of time. John Stoughton. 1852.
Whole Psalm. This Psalm may be thus divided: Psalms 85:1-3, express the thanks of
the people for their return from captivity; Psalms 85:4-6, their prayer for their own
reformation; in Psalms 85:7, they pray for the coming of Messiah; Psalms 85:8
contains the words of the High priest, with God's Gracious answer; which answer is
followed by the grateful acclamation of the people, to the end of the Psalm. To
prepare for this interpretation, let us observe, how very strangely the words are
expressed at presentâ€”I will hear what God the Lord will say: FOR he shall speak
peace unto his people. But surely, God could not be consulted, because it was
unnecessary; nor could the High priest possibly say, that he would ask of God,
because he knew what God would answer; especially, as we have now a question to
God proposed, and yet no answer from God given at all. Under these difficulties we
are happily relieved; since it appears, on satisfactory authorities, that, instead of the
particle rendered for, the word here originally signified in or by me, which slight
variation removes the obscurity, and restores that very light which has long been
wanted. The people having prayed for the speedy arrival of their great salvation;
the High priest says, (as it should be here expressed), I will hear what the Almighty
sayeth. â€”Jehovah, BY ME sayeth, PEACE unto his people, even unto his saints:
but let them not turn again to folly. Whereupon, as the Jews understood peace to
comprehend every blessing, and of course their greatest blessing, they at once
acknowledged the certainty of this salvation, the glory of their landâ€”they proclaim
it as nigh at handâ€”and then, in rapture truly prophetical, they see this glory as
actually arrived, as already dwelling in Judeaâ€”they behold God in fulfilling most
strictly what he had promised most graciouslyâ€”they see therefore the mercy of
God, and the truth of God met togetherâ€”they see that scheme perfected, in which
the righteousness (i.e. the justice) of God harmonizes with the peace (i.e. the
happiness) of man; so that righteousness and peace salute each other with the
tenderest affection. In short, they see TRUTH flourishing out of the earth; i.e. they
see him, who is the way, the truth, and the life, born here on earth; and they even
see the righteousness, or justice of God, looking down from heaven, as being well
pleased. Psalms 85:12 is at present translated so unhappily, that it is quite despoiled
of all its genuine glory. For, could the prophet, after all the rapturous things said
before, coldly say here, that God would give what was good and that Judea should
have a plentiful harvest? o: consistency and good sense forbid it; and truth
confirms their protest against it. The words here express the reasons of all the
preceding energies, and properly signifyâ€”Yea, Jehovah granteth THE
BLESSI G; and our land granteth HER OFFSPRI G. And what can be the
blessing â€”what, amidst these sublime images, can be Judea's offspring â€”but HE,
and HE only, who was the blessing of all lands in general, and the glory of Judea in
particular? And what says the verse following? Righteousness goeth before HIMâ€”
certainly, not before the fruit of the earth â€”but certainly before that illustrious
person, even the MESSIAH. Righteousness goeth before HIM, and directeth his
goings in the way. As to the word rendered the blessing, and applied to the
redemption; the same word is so used by Jeremiah, thus: Behold, the days come,
that I will perform that good thing (the blessing) which I have promised... at that

time will I cause to grow up unto David the Branch of righteousness (Jeremiah
33:14-15). And as to the Messiah being here described, partly as springing up from
the earth; so says Isaiah: "In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and
glorious; and the fruits of the earth shall be excellent and comely." But this
evangelical prophet, in another place, has the very same complication of images with
that found in the psalm before us. For Isaiah also has the heavens, with their
righteousness; and the earth, with its salvation: "Drop down, ye heavens from
above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them
bring forth salvation." But, "let them bring forth" â€” who, or what can be here
meant by them, but the heavens and the earth? It is heaven and earth which are
here represented as bringing forth, and introducing the Saviour of the world. For
what else can be here meant as brought forth by them? What, but HE alone; who,
deriving his divine nature from heaven, and his human from the earth was (what no
other being ever was) both GOD and MA . Benjamin Kennicott.
Ver. 1. Thy land. The land of Jehovah the poet calls it, in order to point out the close
relation of God to it, and to the people thereof, and so confirm the favour of God
towards it. For this land God has chosen as the dwelling place of his people, true
religion, and his own presence; this also in his own time He himself had trodden in
the person of his Son, and in it He first gathered and founded his Church. Venema.
Ver. 1. The captivity of Jacob. All true believers are the sons of Jacob, and the seed
of Abraham; as well as the believing Gentiles, who are the sons of Jacob according
to the Spirit, as the believing Jews the sons of Jacob according to the flesh; and the
Church of these true Jacobins and Israelites is the land of the Lord, and the
captivity here mentioned is bondage under sin. In this captivity Satan is the gaoler,
the flesh is our prison, ungodly lusts are the manacles, a bad conscience the
tormentor, all of them against us; only Christ is Emmanuel, God with us; he turneth
away the captivity of Jacob in forgiving all his offences, and in covering all his sins.
Abraham Wright.
COFFMA , "Verse 1
PSALM 85
A CRY FOR SALVATIO
This psalm was evidently written shortly after the miraculous ending of the
Babylonian captivity, as affirmed by a number of able scholars.
"It evidently belongs to the time soon after the return from the Babylonian exile -
either the days of discouragement before the building of the second temple (Ezra
4:5-24; Haggai 1; Zechariah 1:12-21) or the period of ehemiah ( ehemiah 1:3).[1]
- The situation into which the psalm could fit with more than average propriety is
the time shortly after the return from the Babylonian captivity.[2] - The condition of
the exiles returned from Babylon best corresponds to the conflicting emotions; the
book of ehemiah supplies precisely such a background as fits this psalm.[3] -
There are not allusions in the psalm to tie it down to a particular date; but it would
seem to fit best into the times of Zerubbabel (Ezra 3:4), or that of Ezra and
ehemiah (Ezra 9:10; ehemiah 2-6)."[4]

McCullough did not fully agree with such comments on the date, citing the fact that,
"The psalmist's words are rather vague, and that unlike many laments, there is no
allusion to the machinations of outside enemies."[5]
Psalms 85:1-3
GOD'S PAST BE EFICE CE TO ISRAEL
"Jehovah, thou hast been favorable to thy land;
Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people;
Thou hast covered all their sin. (Selah)
Thou hast taken away all thy wrath;
Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thy anger."
"Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob" (Psalms 85:1). It is true, of course,
that these words can mean merely that "God has restored the prosperity of Israel";
but that possibility cannot take away the plain meaning of the passage, namely, that
God has returned Israel from their literal captivity. There is just one situation
which that fits, the ending of the captivity in Babylon.
"Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people" (Psalms 85:2). When Cyrus not only
permitted the return of Israel to Palestine, but also financed the return and ordered
the rebuilding of the temple on a scale even larger than that of the temple of
Solomon, such unheard-of developments, such a unique example of a defeated and
deported nation being repatriated in their own land, fully justified the psalmist's
conclusion that God indeed had forgiven the iniquity of the Chosen People which
had led to their captivity.
Forgiveness in the ultimate sense, of course, was contingent upon the atonement
provided by the Christ on Calvary, but a practical "passing over" of Israel's
wickedness on God's part was surely evidenced by the return of the remnant to
Palestine.
"Thou hast taken away all thy wrath" (Psalms 85:3). The feeling of security that
came to the returnees was the result of the backing and encouragement of Cyrus,
head of the most powerful nation on earth; and this might account for the fact that
the enemies of Israel received no attention in this psalm. With the cessation of God's
wrath, enemies made no difference at all.
EBC, "THE outstanding peculiarity of this psalm is its sudden transitions of feeling.
Beginning with exuberant thanksgiving for restoration of the nation (Psalms 85:1-

3), it passes, without intermediate gradations, to complaints of God’s continued
wrath and entreaties for restoration (Psalms 85:4-7). and then as suddenly rises to
joyous assurance of inward and outward blessings. The condition of the exiles
returned from Babylon best corresponds to such conflicting emotions. The book of
ehemiah supplies precisely such a background as fits the psalm. A part of the
nation had returned indeed, but to a ruined city, a fallen Temple, and a mourning
land, where they were surrounded by jealous and powerful enemies.
Discouragement had laid hold on the feeble company; enthusiasm had ebbed away;
the harsh realities of their enterprise had stripped off its imaginative charm; and
the mass of the returned settlers had lost heart as well as devout faith. The psalm
accurately reflects such a state of circumstances and feelings, and may, with some
certitude, be assigned, as it is by most commentators, to the period of return from
exile.
It falls into three parts, of increasing length, -the first, of three verses (Psalms 85:1-
3), recounts God’s acts of mercy already received; the second, of four verses (Psalms
85:4-7), is a plaintive prayer in view of still remaining national afflictions; and the
third, of six verses (Psalms 85:8-13), a glad report by the psalmist of the Divine
promises which his waiting ear had heard, and which might well quicken the most
faint hearted into triumphant hope.
In the first strophe one great fact is presented in a threefold aspect, and traced
wholly to Jehovah. "Thou hast turned back the captivity of Jacob." That expression
is sometimes used in a figurative sense for any restoration of prosperity, but is here
to be taken literally. ow, as at first, the restored Israel, like their ancestors under
Joshua, had not won the land by their own arm, but "because God had a favour
unto them," and had given them favour in the eyes of those who carried them
captive. The restoration of the Jews, seen from the conqueror’s point of view, was a
piece of state policy, but from that of the devout Israelite was the result of God’s
working upon the heart of the new ruler of Babylon. The fact is stated in Psalms
85:1; a yet more blessed fact, of which it is most blessed as being a token, is declared
in Psalms 85:2.
The psalmist knows that captivity had been chastisement, the issue of national sin.
Therefore he is sure that restoration is the sign of forgiveness. His thoughts are
running in the same line as in Isaiah 40:2 where the proclamation, to Jerusalem that
her iniquity is pardoned is connected with the assurance that her hard service is
accomplished. He uses two significant words for pardon, both of which occur in
Psalms 32:1-11. In Psalms 85:2 a sin is regarded as a weight pressing down the
nation, which God’s mercy lifts off and takes away; in Psalms 85:2 b it is conceived
of as a hideous stain or foulness, which His mercy hides, so that it is no longer an
offence to heaven. Psalms 85:3 ventures still deeper into the sacred recesses of the
Divine nature, and traces the forgiveness, which in act had produced so happy a
change in Israel’s position, to its source in a change in God’s disposition. "Thou hast
drawn in all Thy wrath," as a man does his breath, or, if the comparison may be
ventured, as some creature armed with a sting retracts it into its sheath. "Thou hast
turned Thyself from the glow of Thine anger" gives the same idea under another

metaphor. The word "turn" has a singular fascination for this psalmist. He uses it
five times (Psalms 85:1, Psalms 85:3, Psalms 85:4, Psalms 85:6 -lit., wilt Thou not
turn, quicken us?-and Psalms 85:8). God’s turning from His anger is the reason for
Israel’s returning from captivity.
The abruptness of the transition from joyous thanksgiving to the sad minor of
lamentation and supplication is striking, but most natural, if the psalmist was one of
the band of returning exiles, surrounded by the ruins of a happier past, and
appalled by the magnitude of the work before them, the slenderness of their
resources, and the fierce hostility of their neighbours. The prayer of Psalms 85:4,
"Turn us," is best taken as using the word in the same sense as in Psalms 85:1,
where God is said to have "turned" the captivity of Jacob. What was there regarded
as accomplished is here conceived of as still to be done. That is, the restoration was
incomplete, as we know that it was, both in regard to the bulk of the nation, who
still remained in exile, and in regard to the depressed condition of the small part of
it which had gone back to Palestine. In like manner the petitions of Psalms 85:5 look
back to Psalms 85:3, and pray that the anger which there had been spoken of as
passed may indeed utterly cease. The partial restoration of the people implied, in the
psalmist’s view, a diminution rather than a cessation of God’s punitive wrath, and
he beseeches Him to complete that which He had begun.
The relation of the first to the second strophe is not only that of contrast, but the
prayers of the latter are founded upon the facts of the former, which constitute both
grounds for the suppliant’s hope of answer and pleas with God. He cannot mean to
deliver by halves. The mercies received are incomplete; and His work must be
perfect. He cannot be partially reconciled, nor have meant to bring His people back
to the land, and then leave them to misery. So the contrast between the bright
dawning of the return and its clouded day is not wholly depressing; for the
remembrance of what has been heartens for the assurance that what is shall not
always be, but will be followed by a future more correspondent to God’s purpose as
shown in that past. When we are tempted to gloomy thoughts by the palpable
incongruities between God’s ideals and man’s realisation of them, we may take a
hint from this psalmist, and, instead of concluding that the ideal was a phantasm,
argue with ourselves that the incomplete actual will one day give way to the perfect
embodiment. God leaves no work unfinished. He never leaves off till He has done.
His beginnings guarantee congruous endings. He does not half withdraw His anger;
and, if He seems to do so, it is only because men have but half turned from their
sins. This psalm is rich in teaching as to the right way of regarding the
incompleteness of great movements, which, in their incipient stages, were evidently
of God. It instructs us to keep the Divine intervention which started them clearly in
view; to make the shortcomings, which mar them, a subject of lowly prayer; and to
be sure that all which He begins He will finish, and that the end will fully
correspond to the promise of the beginning. A "day of the Lord" which rose in
brightness may cloud over as its hours roll, but "at eventide it shall be light," and
none of the morning promise will be unfulfilled,
PULPIT, "THIS is a psalm written after a signal display of God's mercy towards

Israel, but when there was still much wanting to make the condition of the people
altogether satisfactory. It consists of a thanksgiving for the deliverance vouchsafed
(Psalms 85:1-3); a prayer for further and more complete restoration to favour
(Psalms 85:4-7); and a joyful anticipation of the granting of the prayer, and of the
bestowal on Israel, ultimately, of all temporal and spiritual blessings (Psalms 85:8-
13). There are no such distinct and definite allusions in the psalm as to tie it down to
any particular date; but, on the whole, it would seem to suit best either the time of
Zerubbabel (Ezra 3:1-13; Ezra 4:1-24.) or that of Ezra and ehemiah (Ezra 9:1-15;
Ezra 10:1-44; e 2-6.).
Psalms 85:1-3
The thanksgiving. God is thanked for two things especially:
(1) for having granted his people forgiveness of their sins (Psalms 85:2, Psalms
85:3); and
Psalms 85:1
Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land; or, "thou art become gracious"
(Kay, Cheyne)—a preceding time during which God was not gracious is implied
(comp. Psalms 77:7-9). Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. It is most
natural to understand this of the return from the Babylonian captivity; but possible
that some lighter affliction may be intended, since ‫שׁבות‬ is used, metaphorically, for
calamities short of actual captivity (see the comment on Job 42:10).
K&D 1-3, "The poet first of all looks back into the past, so rich in tokens of favour.
The six perfects are a remembrance of former events, since nothing precedes to modify
them. Certainly that which has just been experienced might also be intended; but then,
as Hitzig supposes, Psa_85:5-8 would be the petition that preceded it, and Psa_85:9
would go back to the turning-point of the answering of the request - a retrograde
movement which is less probable than that in shuwbeenuw, Psa_85:5, we have a
transition to the petition for a renewal of previously manifested favour. (‫ית‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ‫)שׁ‬ ‫בוּת‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫,ש‬
here said of a cessation of a national judgment, seems to be meant literally, not
figuratively (vid., Psa_14:7). ‫ה‬ ָ‫צ‬ ָ‫,ר‬ with the accusative, to have and to show pleasure in
any one, as in the likewise Korahitic lamentation- Psa_44:4, cf. Psa_147:11. In Psa_85:3
sin is conceived of as a burden of the conscience; in Psa_85:3 as a blood-stain. The
music strikes up in the middle of the strophe in the sense of the “blessed” in Psa_32:1. In
Psa_85:4 God's ‫ה‬ ָ‫ר‬ ְ‫ב‬ ֶ‫ע‬ (i.e., unrestrained wrath) appears as an emanation; He draws it
back to Himself (‫ף‬ ַ‫ס‬ፎ as in Joe_3:15, Psa_104:29; 1Sa_14:19) when He ceases to be
angry; in Psa_85:4, on the other hand, the fierce anger is conceived of as an active
manifestation on the part of God which ceases when He turns round (‫יב‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫,ה‬ Hiph. as
inwardly transitive as in Eze_14:6; Eze_39:25; cf. the Kal in Exo_32:12), i.e., gives the
opposite turn to His manifestation.

BI 1-13, "Lord, Thou hast been favourable unto Thy land.
A psalm of deliverance; songs and sighs
A part of the nation had returned, but to a ruined city, a fallen temple, and a mourning
land, where they were surrounded by jealous and powerful enemies. Discouragement
had laid hold on the feeble company, enthusiasm had ebbed away, and heart as well as
faith had been lost. This psalm accurately reflects such a state of things, and is
reasonably taken as one of the earliest post-exilic psalms.
1. The first portion presents one great fact in three aspects, and traces it to Jehovah.
The restored Israel had been sent back by the conqueror as a piece of policy, but it
was God who had done it, all the same. The blessed fact is joyously announced in
Psa_85:1, and the yet more blessed fact of forgiveness, of which it is a token, in Psa_
85:2. The word rendered “forgiven” implies that sin is regarded as a weight, which
God lifts off from the pressed-down sinner; while that for “covered” regards it as a
hideous stain, which He hides. Our sins weigh us down, and “are rank, and smell to
heaven.” Verse 8 ventures still deeper into the sacred recesses of the Divine nature,
and traces the forgiveness to a change in God’s disposition. His wrath has been
drawn in, as, if we may say so, some creature armed with a sting retracts it into its
sheath.
2. God turns from His anger, therefore Israel returns to the land. But the singer feels
the incompleteness of the restoration, and the bitter consciousness suddenly changes
joyous strains to a plaintive minor in the second part (Psa_85:4-7). “Turn us,” in
Psa_85:4, looks back to “brought back” in Psa_85:1, and is the same word in the
Hebrew. The restoration is but partially accomplished. Similarly the petitions of
Psa_85:5 look back to Psa_85:8, and pray that God’s wrath may indeed pass utterly
away. The prayers are grounded on what God has done. He does not deliver by
halves. He is not partially reconciled. The remembrance of the bright beginning
heartens the assurance of a completion. God never leaves off till He has done. If He
seems to have but half withdrawn His anger, it is because we have but half forsaken
our sins.
3. The third portion brings solid hopes, based on God’s promises, to bear on present
discouragements. In Psa_85:8 the psalmist, like Habakkuk (Hab_2:1), encourages
himself to listen to what God will speak, “2 will hear,” or, rather, “Let me hear.”
Faithful prayer will always be followed by faithful waiting for response. God will not
be silent when His servant appeals to Him, but, though no voice breaks the silence, a
sweet assurance, coming from Him, will rise in the depths of the soul, and tell the
suppliant that He “will speak peace to His people,” and warn them not to turn to
other helps, which is “folly.” The peace which He speaks means chiefly peace with
Himself, and then well-being of all kinds, the sure results of a right relation with
God. But that peace is shivered by any sin, like the reflection of the blue heaven in a
still lake when a gust of wind ruffles its surface. Verses 9-13 are the report, in the
psalmist’s own words, of what his listening ear had heard God say. First comes the
assurance that God’s salvation, the whole fulness of His delivering grace, both in
regard to outward and inward evils, is “nigh them that fear Him.” They, and only
they, who keep far away from foolish confidence in impotent helps and helpers shall
be enriched. That is the inmost meaning of God’s word to the singer and to us all.
The acceptance of God’s salvation purifies our hearts to be temples, and is the
condition of His dwelling with us. The lovely personification of verses 10-13 have
passed into Christian poetry and art, but are not rightly understood when taken, as
they often are, to describe the harmonious meeting, in Christ’s work, of apparently

opposing attributes. Mercy and faithfulness blend together in all God’s dealings with
His people, and righteousness and peace are inseparable in His people’s experience.
These four radiant angels dwell for ever with those who are God’s children. In verse
11 we have a beautiful inversion of the two pairs of personifications, of each of which
only one member appears. Truth, or faithfulness, came into view in verse 10 as a
Divine attribute, but is now regarded as a human virtue, springing out of the earth;
that is, produced among men. They who have received into their hearts the blessed
assurance and results of God’s faithfulness will imitate it in their own lives.
Conversely, righteousness, which in verse10 was a human excellence, here appears as
looking from heaven like a gracious angel smiling on the faithfulness which springs
from earth. Thus heaven and earth are united, and humanity becomes a reflection of
the Divine. Verse 12 presents the same idea in its most general form. God gives good
of all sorts, and, thus fructified, earth “shall yield her increase.” Without sunshine
there are no harvests. God gives before He asks. We must receive from Him before
we can tender the fruit of our lives to Him. In verse 18 the idea of Divine attributes
aa the parents of human virtues is again expressed by a different metaphor.
Righteousness is represented doubly, as both a herald going before God’s march in
the world, and as following Him. It makes His footsteps “a way “for us to walk in.
Man’s perfection lies in his imitating God. Jesus has left us “an example” that we
should “follow His steps.” (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Genuine piety
This psalm present to us genuine piety in three aspects.
I. Acknowledging the mercies of the past.
1. Restoration to their country. “Thou hast brought back,” etc. He brought them
from Egypt and from Babylon.
2. Absolution of their sins. “Thou hast forgiven,” etc. When sin is forgiven it is
“covered”; it does not reappear any more in producing suffering and anguish. Its
guilt and power (not its memory) are crushed.
3. The cessation of penal afflictions. “Thou hast turned thyself,” etc. Genuine piety
can recount such blessings in the past as these, and even of a higher order. “The
presence of present afflictions should not drown the remembrance of former
mercies.”
II. Deploring the evils of the present.
1. The sense of estrangement from God. “Turn us, O God of our salvation.”
Departure from God is our ruin, return is our salvation. The separation between man
and his Maker arises, not from His turning from man, but from the turning of man
from Him.
2. The sense of the displeasure of their Maker. “Wilt Thou be angry with us for
ever?” This really means, Wilt Thou afflict us for ever; shall we be ever in suffering?
God’s anger is not passion, but antagonism to wrong.
3. The sense of deadness. “Wilt Thou not revive us again?” etc. They had been
politically dead (Eze_27:1-36.), and they were religiously dead. Such are some of the
evils they deprecate in this psalm; and for their removal they now implore their God.
III. Anticipating the good of the future. “I will hear what God the Lord will speak.” Piety

here fastens its eye on several blessings in the future.
1. Divine peace. “He will speak peace unto His people.” He will one day speak
“peace”—national, religious, spiritual, peace to all mankind.
2. Moral unity. “Mercy and truth are met together,” etc. These moral forces, ever
since the introduction of sin, have been working, not only separately, but
antagonistically; and this has been one of the great sources of human misery; but in
the future they will coalesce, unite.
3. Spiritual prosperity. “Truth shall spring out of the earth,” etc. From the hearts of
men truth shall spring as from its native soil, and it shall grow in stately beauty and
affluent fruitage. And “righteousness shall look down from heaven,” delighted with
the scene. (Homilist.)
The responsibility of favoured nations
It is true that the God of nations has His special calling and election for each of the races
of mankind. To quote Bishop Westcott: “History on a large scale is the revelation of the
will of God; and in the history of the greatest nations we may expect to find the will of
God for them. They are themselves the record and the retribution of their past, and the
prophecy of their future.” We Englishmen must be blind and thankless, indeed, if we fail
to recognize God’s ordination in our own history, God’s warnings and promises in our
fortunes. Surely He has been favourable unto this land of ours, until every acre of it is
holy ground. To us also God has granted prophets, and captains, and reformers in long
succession to “bring back our captivity,” until freedom means more in England to-day
than it means anywhere else in the world. And upon us, too, God has laid the burden of a
duty and destiny which we still only half discern. He has given us a charge which we can
never fulfil abroad except as we become faithful to our vocation at home. To realize the
very hand of the living God laid on our nation to-day humbles us into awe and
seriousness and searchings of heart. The proud vision of Empire fades into a solemn
sense of the Divine Imperator who ordains our inheritance for us; because the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory are His own. (F. H. Darlow.)
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people
and covered all their sins.[b]
BAR ES, "Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people - That is, These
calamities came upon them in consequence of their sins, and thou hast dealt with them
as if those sins were forgiven. The fact that the tokens of his anger bad passed away, and
that his judgments were withdrawn, seemed to prove that their sins had been forgiven.

The same form of expression used here - with the same words in Hebrew - occurs in
Psa_32:5. See the notes at that passage. The language suggests the idea of an atonement.
Literally, “Thou hast lifted up - or borne - the iniquity of thy people.”
Thou hast covered all their sin - So that it is hidden; and therefore thou dost treat
them as if they were righteous, or as if there were no sin. The idea of covering is that
expressed in the Hebrew word, which is commonly rendered “atonement” - ‫כפר‬ kâphar -
to cover; to cover over; then, to cover over sin; to forgive. The idea suggested in this
verse is, that when God withdraws the tokens of his displeasure, we may hope that he
has pardoned the sin which was the cause of his anger.
CLARKE, "Thou hast forgiven the iniquity - ‫עון‬ ‫נשאת‬ nasatha avon, Thou hast
borne, or carried away, the iniquity. An allusion to the ceremony of the scapegoat.
Thou hast covered all their sin - As thou hast freely forgiven it, its offensiveness
and abominable nature no longer appear. The whole is put out of sight; and, as we are
restored from our captivity, the consequences no longer appear.
Selah - This is true. Our return to our own land is the full proof.
GILL, "Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people,.... Took it from them, and
laid it on Christ, who has bore it, and took it away, so as it shall never return more to
their destruction; and by the application of his blood it is taken away from their own
consciences; for this denotes the manifestation and discovery of forgiveness to
themselves; it is a branch of redemption, and is in consequence of it; and is a fruit of the
free favour and good will of God through Christ; and it only belongs to the Lord's special
people, the people he has taken into covenant with him, and for whose iniquity Christ
was stricken:
thou hast covered all their sin; this is but another phrase for forgiveness, see Psa_
32:1, and this is done by the blood and righteousness, and propitiatory sacrifice of
Christ, the antitypical mercy seat, the covering of the law and its transgressions, and the
people of God from its curse and condemnation; whose sins are so covered by Christ, as
not to be seen by the eye of avenging justice, even all of them, not one remains
uncovered.
CALVI , "2Thou hast taken away the iniquity of thy people. It was very natural
for the faithful to feel alarmed and perplexed on account of their sins, and therefore
the prophet removes all ground for overwhelming apprehension, by showing them,
that God, in delivering his people, had given an irrefragable proof of free
forgiveness. He had before traced this deliverance to the mere good pleasure and
free grace of God as its source; but after it was wrought, the iniquities of the people
having separated between them and their God, and estranged them from him, it was
necessary that the remedy of pardon should be brought to their aid. In saying that
their iniquities were taken away, he does not refer to the faithful being reformed
and purged from their sins, in other words, to that work by which God, sanctifying
them by the Spirit of regeneration, actually removes sin from them. What he

intended to say he explains immediately after. The amount, in short, is, that God
was reconciled to the Jews by not imputing their sins to them. When God is said to
cover sins, the meaning is, that he buries them, so that they come not into judgment,
as we have shown more at large on the 32nd psalm, at the beginning. When,
therefore, he had punished the sins of his people by captivity, it being his will to
restore them again to their own country, he removed the great impediment to this,
by blotting out their transgressions; for deliverance from punishment depends upon
the remission of sin. Thus we are furnished with an argument in confutation of that
foolish conceit of the Sophists, which they set forth as some great mystery, That God
retains the punishment although he forgive the fault; whereas God announces in
every part of his word, that his object in pardoning is, that being pacified, he may at
the same time mitigate the punishment. Of this we have an additional confirmation
in the following verse, where we are informed, that God was mercifully inclined
towards his people, that he might withdraw his hand from chastising them. What
answer in any degree plausible can be given to this by the Sophists, who affirm that
God would not be righteous did he not, after he had forgiven the fault, execute
punishment according to the strict demands of his justice? The sequence of the
pardon of sin is, that God by his blessing testifies that he is no longer displeased.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Often and
often had he done this, pausing to pardon even when his sword was bared to punish.
Who is a pardoning God like thee, O Jehovah? Who is so slow to anger, so ready for
forgive? Every believer in Jesus enjoys the blessing of pardoned sin, and he should
regard this priceless boon as the pledge of all other needful mercies. He should plead
it with Godâ€”"Lord, hast thou pardoned me, and wilt thou let me perish for lack of
grace, or fall into mine enemies' hands for want of help. Thou wilt not thus leave thy
work unfinished."
Thou hast covered all their sin. All of it, every spot, and wrinkle, the veil of love has
covered all. Sin has been divinely put out of sight. Hiding it beneath the
propitiatory, covering it with the sea of the atonement, blotting it out, making it to
cease to be, the Lord has put it so completely away that even his omniscient eye sees
it no more. What a miracle is this! To cover up the sun would be easy work
compared with the covering up of sin. ot without a covering atonement is sin
removed, but by means of the great sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, it is most effectually
put away by one act, for ever. What a covering does his blood afford!
Ver. 2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity. nvs tsn, nasatha avon, Thou hast borne, or
carried away, the iniquity. An allusion to the ceremony of the scapegoat. Adam
Clarke.
Ver. 2. Thou hast covered all their sin. When God is said to cover sin, he does so, not
as one would cover a sore with a plaster, thereby merely hiding it only; but he
covers it with a plaster that effectually cures and removes it altogether. Bellarmine.
Ver. 2. Selah. Rabbi Kimchi regards it as a sign to elevate the voice. The authors of
the Septuagint translation appear to have regarded it as a musical or rythmical
note. Herder regarded it as indicating a change of note; Mathewson as a musical
note, equivalent, perhaps, to the word repeat. According to Luther and others, it
means silence. Gesenius explains it to mean, "Let the instruments play and the

singers stop." Wocher regards it as equivalent to sursum corda â€”up, my soul!
Sommer, after examining all the seventy four passages in which the word occurs,
recognises in every case "an actual appeal or summons to Jehovah." They are calls
for aid and prayers to be heard, expressed either with entire directness, or if not in
the imperative, "Hear, Jehovah!" or Awake, Jehovah! and the like, still earnest
addresses to God that he would remember and hear, &c. The word itself he regards
as indicating a blast of the trumpets by the priests. Selah, itself, he thinks an
abridged expression, used for Higgaion Selahâ€”Higgaion indicating the sound of
the stringed instruments and Selah a vigorous blast of trumpets. From the
"Bibliotheca Sacra, "quoted by Plumer.
PULPIT, "Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; thou hast covered all their
sin. God's remission of punishment, and restoration of his people to favour, was a
full indication that he had "forgiven their iniquity" and "covered their sins." This
was so vast a boon, that a pause for devout acknowledgment and silent adoration
seemed fitting. Hence the "selah," which is at the end of the second verse, not of the
first, as Hengstenberg states.
3 You set aside all your wrath
and turned from your fierce anger.
BAR ES, "Thou hast taken away all thy wrath - That is, formerly; on the
occasion referred to. Thou didst so deal with thy people as to make it evident that thou
didst cherish no anger or displeasure against them.
Thou hast turned thyself ... - Margin, “thine anger from waxing hot.” Literally,
Thou didst turn from the heat of thine anger. His indignation was withdrawn, and he
was again at peace with them. It is this fact, drawn from the former history of the people,
which constitutes the basis of the appeal which follows.
CLARKE, "Thou hast taken away - ‫אספת‬ asaphta, “Thou hast gathered up all thy
wrath.” This carries on the metaphor in the second verse: “Thou hast collected all thy
wrath, and carried it away with all our iniquities.”
GILL, "Thou hast taken away all thy wrath,.... Or "gathered" (n) it; sin occasions
wrath, and the people of God are as deserving of it as others; but the Lord has gathered

it up, and poured it forth upon his Son, and their surety; hence nothing of this kind shall
ever fall upon them, either here or hereafter; and it is taken away from them, so as to
have no sense, apprehension, or conscience of it, which before the law had wrought in
them, when pardon is applied unto them, which is what is here meant; see Isa_12:1,
thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger; the anger of God is
very fierce against sin and sinners; it is poured forth like fire, and there is no abiding it;
but, with respect to the Lord's people, it is pacified by the death of his Son; or he is
pacified towards them for all that they have done, for the sake of his righteousness and
sacrifice; and which appears to them when he manifests his love and pardoning grace to
their souls; see Eze_16:63.
JAMISO , "To turn from the “fierceness,” implies that He was reconcilable, though
SPURGEO , "Ver. 3. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath. Having removed the sin,
the anger is removed also. How often did the longsuffering of God take away from
Israel the punishments which had been justly laid upon them! How often also has
the Lord's chastising hand been removed from us when our waywardness called for
heavier strokes!
Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. Even when judgments
had been most severe, the Lord had in mercy stayed his hand. In mid volley he had
restrained his thunder. When ready to destroy, he had averted his face from his
purpose of judgment and allowed mercy to interpose. The book of Judges is full of
illustrations of this, and the psalmist does well to quote them while he interceded. Is
not our experience equally studded with instances in which judgment has been
stayed and tenderness has ruled? What a difference between the fierce anger which
is feared and deprecated here, and the speaking of peace which is foretold in verse 8.
There are many changes in Christian experience, and therefore we must not despair
when we are undergoing the drearier portion of the spiritual life, for soon, very
soon, it may be transformed into gladness.
"The Lord can clear the darkest skies,
Can give us day for night.
Make drops of sacred sorrow rise
To rivers of delight."
Ver. 3. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath. Or gathered it; sin occasions wrath, and
the people of God are as deserving of it as others; but the Lord has gathered it up,
and poured it forth upon his Son, and their Surety; hence nothing of this kind shall
ever fall upon them, either here or hereafter; and it is taken away from them, so as
to have no sense, apprehension, or conscience of it, which before the law had
wrought in them, when pardon is applied unto them, which is what is here meant.
John Gill.
Ver. 3. Thou hast turned thyself. Here are six hasts drawing in the next turn, Psalms
85:4. God hath, and therefore God will is a strong medium of hope, if not a
demonstration of Scripture logic. See 2 Corinthians 1:10. John Trapp.

4 Restore us again, God our Savior,
and put away your displeasure toward us.
BAR ES, "Turn us, O God of our salvation - The God from whom salvation
must come, and on whom we are dependent for it. The prayer here is, “turn us;” turn us
from our sins; bring us to repentance; make us willing to forsake every evil way; and
enable us to do it. This is the proper spirit always in prayer. The first thing is not that he
would take away his wrath, but that he would dispose us to forsake our sins, and to turn
to himself; that we may be led to abandon that which has brought his displeasure upon
us, and then that he will cause his anger toward us to cease. We have no authority for
asking God to turn away his judgments unless we are willing to forsake our sins; and in
all cases we can hope for the divine interposition and mercy, when the judgments of God
are upon us, only as we are willing to turn from our iniquities.
And cause thine anger toward us to cease - The word used here, and rendered
“cause to cease” - ‫פרר‬ pârar - means properly to break; then, to violate; and then, to
annul, or to bring to an end. The idea here is, that if they were turned from sin, the cause
of his anger would be removed, and would cease of course. Compare Psa_80:3.
CLARKE, "Turn us, O God of our salvation - Thou hast turned our captivity;
now convert our souls. And they find a reason for their prayer in an attribute of their
God; the God of their salvation. And as his work was to save, they beg that his anger
towards them might cease. The Israelites were not restored from their captivity all at
once. A few returned with Zerubbabel; some more with Ezra and Nehemiah; but a great
number still remained in Babylonia, Media, Assyria, Egypt, and other parts. The request
of the psalmist is, to have a complete restoration of all the Israelites from all places of
their dispersion.
GILL, "Turn us, O God of our salvation,.... Who appointed it in his purposes,
contrived it in council, secured it in covenant, and sent his Son to effect it; the prayer to
him is for converting grace, either at first, for first conversion is his work, and his only;
or after backslidings, for he it is that restores the souls of his people; and perhaps it is a
prayer of the Jews, for their conversion in the latter day; when sensible of sin, and
seeking after the Messiah they have rejected, when the Lord will turn them to himself,
and turn away iniquity from them, and they shall be saved, Hos_3:5,
and cause thine anger towards us to cease: the manifest tokens of which are now
upon them, being scattered up and down in the world, and made a proverb

HE RY, ". They are taught to pray to God for grace and mercy, in reference to their
present distress; this is inferred from the former: “Thou hast done well for our fathers;
do well for us, for we are the children of the same covenant.” 1. They pray for converting
grace: “Turn us, O God of our salvation! in order to the turning of our captivity; turn us
from iniquity; turn us to thyself and to our duty; turn us, and we shall be turned.” All
those whom God will save sooner or later he will turn. If no conversion, no salvation. 2.
They pray for the removal of the tokens of God's displeasure which they were under:
“Cause thine anger towards us to cease, as thou didst many a time cause it to cease in
the days of our fathers, when thou didst take away thy wrath from them.” Observe the
method, “First turn us to thee, and then cause thy anger to turn from us.” When we are
reconciled to God, then, and not till then, we may expect the comfort of his being
reconciled to us. 3. They pray for the manifestation of God's good-will to them (Psa_
85:7): “Show us thy mercy, O Lord! show thyself merciful to us; not only have mercy on
us, but let us have the comfortable evidences of that mercy; let us know that thou hast
mercy on us and mercy in store for us.” 4. They pray that God would, graciously to them
and gloriously to himself, appear on their behalf: “Grant us thy salvation; grant it by thy
promise, and then, no doubt, thou wilt work it by thy providence.” Note, The vessels of
God's mercy are the heirs of his salvation; he shows mercy to those to whom he grants
salvation; for salvation is of mere mercy.
JAMISO , "having still occasion for the anger which is deprecated.
CALVI , "4Turn us, O God of our salvation! The faithful now make a practical
application to themselves, in their present circumstances, of what they had
rehearsed before concerning God’s paternal tenderness towards his people whom he
had redeemed. And they attribute to him, by whom they desire to be restored to
their former state, the appellation, O God of our salvation! to encourage themselves,
even in the most desperate circumstances, in the hope of being delivered by the
power of God. Although to the eye of sense and reason there may be no apparent
ground to hope favourably as to our condition, it becomes us to believe that our
salvation rests secure in his hand, and that, whenever he pleases, he can easily and
readily find the means of bringing salvation to us. God’s anger being the cause and
origin of all calamities, the faithful beseech him to remove it. This order demands
our special attention; for so effeminate and faint-hearted in bearing adversity are
we, that no sooner does God begin to smite us with his little finger, than we entreat
him, with groaning and lamentable cries, to spare us. But we forget to plead, what
should chiefly engage our thoughts, that he would deliver us from guilt and
condemnation; and we forget this because we are reluctant to descend into our own
hearts and to examine ourselves.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 4. Turn us, O God of our salvation. This was the main business.
Could the erring tribes be rendered penitent all would be well. It is not that God
needs turning from his anger so much as that we need turning from our sin; here is
the hinge of the whole matter. Our trials frequently arise out of our sins, they will
not go till the sins go. We need to be turned from our sins, but only God can turn us:
God the Saviour must put his hand to the work: it is indeed a main part of our

salvation. Conversion is the dawn of salvation. To turn a heart to God is as difficult
as to make the world revolve upon its axis. Yet when a man learns to pray for
conversion there is hope for him, he who turns to prayer is beginning to turn from
sin. It is a very blessed sight to see a whole people turn unto their God; may the
Lord so send forth his converting grace on our land that we may live to see the
people flocking to the loving worship of God as the doves to their cotes.
And cause thine anger toward us to cease. Make an end of it. Let it no longer burn.
When sinners cease to rebel, the Lord ceases to be angry with them; when they
return to him he returns to them; yea, he is first in the reconciliation, and turns
them when otherwise they would never turn of themselves. May all those who are
now enduring the hidings of Jehovah's face seek with deep earnestness to be turned
anew unto the Lord, for so shall all their despondencies come to an end. Thus the
sweet singer asks for his nation priceless blessings, and quotes the best of
arguments. Because the God of Israel has been so rich in favour in bygone years,
therefore he is entreated to reform and restore his backsliding nation.
Ver. 4. Cause thine anger toward us to cease. The phrase, break thine indignation
towards us, (that is, wherewith thou art angry with us, in order that it may cease of
itself,)comprehends the abolition of the signs and the effects of anger. The word drk,
for this is the root to be taken, properly denotes a breaking by means of notches and
gaps, as when the edge of anything is broken by many notches and gaps, and it is
made utterly worn and useless. Indignation, so long as it is vigorous and spreads its
effects, has an edge, which smites and pierces; but it is considered blunt and broken,
when it ceases to exert itself, and produces evils no longer, this they affirm of the
anger of God. Venema.
COFFMA , "Verse 4
A PLEA FOR SALVATIO
"Turn us, O God of our salvation,
And cause thine indignation toward us to cease.
Wilt thou be angry with us forever?
Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Show us thy loving kindness, O
Jehovah,
And grant us thy salvation."
The tone of these verses is radically different from that in the first three; and they
can be explained only by understanding them to refer to a period subsequent to the
glorious return of the Chosen People from Babylon. Such an explanation is easily
provided by the prophets Haggai and Malachi. What had gone wrong?
(1) First, the vast majority of Israel, having accommodated to their situation in
Babylon, many of them amassing wealth, simply refused to return to Jerusalem. (2)

Those who did return had no enthusiasm whatever for rebuilding the temple, their
chief concern being the building of their own houses. (3) They grossly neglected the
requirements of God's worship. (4) Even after the second temple had finally been
constructed, Malachi flatly declared that the people were "robbing God"! Things in
Israel had gone from bad to worse during that first generation of returnees. As the
situation deteriorated, there is no wonder that the psalmist included this earnest,
even urgent, plea for God to save them.
"Turn us, O God of our salvation" (Psalms 85:4). This means, "Turn us from our
sins." God could not bless Israel as long as they preferred iniquity to the
righteousness God required of them. "This is always the proper spirit in prayer.
The first thing is not that God should take away his wrath, but that he would
dispose us to forsake our sins."[6]
This paragraph (Psalms 85:4-7) carries three petitions. The first of these is "Turn
us" (Psalms 85:4).
"Wilt thou be angry forever? ... unto all generations" (Psalms 85:5). "Such plaintive
questions frequently accompany supplications for forgiveness and restoration. They
do not reveal impatience or mistrust but speak, rather, of the earnestness of the
petitioner."[7]
"Wilt thou not quicken us again?" (Psalms 85:6). This is the second of the three
petitions, It means, "rejuvenate us"; "give us a new spirit"; "make us alive again."
There is an overtone here of the ultimate achievement of such a thing in the ew
Birth revealed in the ew Testament.
"Show us thy lovingkindness ... grant us thy salvation" (Psalms 85:7). This is the
third of the petitions. "It is a request that Israel might experience fulfilment of the
covenant-promises of God's steadfast love and their own salvation."[8]
COKE, "Psalms 85:4. Turn us, O God of our salvation— The meaning is, "Restore
us entirely to our former happy state, by completing the deliverance which thou hast
begun; and by averting these new troubles which have befallen us." See Ezra 4:4-5;
Ezra 4:21; Ezra 4:23. It is not improbable, that this psalm was ordered to be sung
presently after the Jews had laid the foundation of the new temple, when they were
hindered from proceeding with the work by the opposition of their enemies.
K&D 4-7, "The poet now prays God to manifest anew the loving-kindness He has
shown formerly. In the sense of “restore us again,” ‫נוּ‬ ֵ‫שׁוּב‬ does not form any bond of
connection between this and the preceding strophe; but it does it, according to Ges. §121,
4, it is intended in the sense of (‫ינוּ‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ֵ‫)א‬ ‫נוּ‬ ָ‫ל‬ ‫,שׁוּב‬ turn again to us. The poet prays that God
would manifest Himself anew to His people as He has done in former days. Thus the
transition from the retrospective perfects to the petition is, in the presence of the
existing extremity, adequately brought about. Assuming the post-exilic origin of the
Psalm, we see from this strophe that it was composed at a period in which the distance

between the temporal and spiritual condition of Israel and the national restoration,
promised together with the termination of the Exile, made itself distinctly felt. On ‫נוּ‬ ָ ִ‫ע‬
(in relation to and bearing towards us) beside ָ‫ך‬ ְ‫ס‬ ַ‫ֽע‬ ַⅴ, cf. Job_10:17, and also on ‫ר‬ ֵ‫פ‬ ֵ‫,ה‬ Psa_
89:34. In the question in Psa_89:6 reminding God of His love and of His promise, ְ‫ך‬ ַ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫מ‬
has the signification of constant endless continuing or pursuing, as in Psa_36:11. The
expression in Psa_85:7 is like Psa_71:20, cf. Psa_80:19; ‫שׁוּב‬ is here the representative of
rursus, Ges. §142. ָ‫ך‬ ֲ‫ע‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ֶ‫י‬ from ‫ע‬ ַ‫שׁ‬ֵ‫,י‬ like ָ‫ך‬ ְ ְ‫צ‬ ֶ‫ק‬ in Psa_38:2, has ĕ (cf. the inflexion of ‫י‬ ִ‫ר‬ ְ and
‫ּק‬‫ח‬) instead of the ı in ‫נוּ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ִ‫י‬ ‫י‬ ֵ‫ּה‬‫ל‬ ֱ‫.א‬ Here at the close of the strophe the prayer turns back
inferentially to this attribute of God.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all
generations?
BAR ES, "Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? - Thine anger is so long
continued that it seems as if it would never cease.
Wilt thou draw out thine anger - Wilt thou protract or prolong it? The idea is that
of a determined purpose, in retaining his anger, as if his wrath would cease of necessity
unless there were such a direct exercise of will.
To all generations - literally, “from generation to generation.” That is, - so that not
merely the generation which has sinned, and which has brought down these tokens of
displeasure, shall suffer, but the next, and the next, and the next, forever. The plea is that
the judgment might terminate, and not reach coming generations.
CLARKE, "Wilt thou draw out thine anger - We have already suffered much
and long; our fathers have suffered, and we have succeeded to their distresses. Draw not
out thy anger against us from generation to generation.
GILL, "Wilt thou be angry with us for ever?.... God is angry with the wicked every
day, their life being a continued series of sin, without repentance for it, or confession of
it; and he will be so for ever, of which they will have a constant sense and feeling; and is
the worm that never dies, and the fire that is inextinguishable; but he does not retain his
anger for ever with his own people; though he is displeased with them, and chastises

them for their sins, his anger endures but for a moment; he is pacified towards them and
turns away his anger from them, by discovering his pardoning love, and withdrawing his
afflicting hand:
wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? out of his heart, where it is
supposed to be conceived; and out of his treasury, where it is thought to be laid up: this
has been drawn out to a great length of time upon the Jewish nation; it has been upon
them for almost twenty centuries, or ages, and still remains, and will until the fulness of
the Gentiles is brought in; but it will not be drawn out to "all" ages or generations; for
they shall return to the Lord, and seek him; and he will come to them, and turn away
iniquity from them, and so all Israel shall be saved.
HE RY, "They are taught humbly to expostulate with God concerning their present
troubles, Psa_85:5, Psa_85:6. Here observe, 1. What they dread and deprecate: “Wilt
thou be angry with us for ever? We are undone if thou art, but we hope thou wilt not.
Wilt thou draw out thy anger unto all generations? No; thou art gracious, slow to anger,
and swift to show mercy, and wilt not contend for ever. Thou wast not angry with our
fathers for ever, but didst soon turn thyself from the fierceness of thy wrath; why then
wilt thou be angry with us for ever? Are not thy mercies and compassions as plentiful
and powerful as ever they were? Impenitent sinners God will be angry with for ever; for
what is hell but the wrath of God drawn out unto endless generations? But shall a hell
upon earth be the lot of thy people?” 2. What they desire and hope for: “Wilt thou not
revive us again (Psa_85:6), revive us with comforts spoken to us, revive us with
deliverances wrought for us? Thou hast been favourable to thy land formerly, and that
revived it; wilt thou not again be favourable, and so revive it again?” God had granted to
the children of the captivity some reviving in their bondage, Ezr_9:8. Their return out
of Babylon was as life from the dead, Eze_37:11, Eze_37:12. Now, Lord (say they), wilt
thou not revive us again, and put thy hand again the second time to gather us in? Isa_
11:11; Psa_126:1, Psa_126:4. Revive thy work in the midst of the years, Hab_3:2.
“Revive us again,” (1.) “That thy people may rejoice; and so we shall have the comfort of
it,” Psa_14:7. Give them life, that they may have joy. (2.) “That they may rejoice in thee;
and so thou wilt have the glory of it.” If God be the fountain of all our mercies, he must
be the centre of all our joys.
JAMISO , "draw out — or, “prolong” (Psa_36:10).
CALVI , "5Wilt thou be wroth against us for ever? Here the godly bewail the long
continuance of their afflictions, and derive an argument in prayer from the nature
of God, as it is described in the law, —
“The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and
transgression, and sin,”
(Exodus 34:6,)
— a truth which has also been brought under our notice in Psalms 30:5, “For his
anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning.” It thus becomes us, when we engage in prayer, to

meditate upon the Divine promises that we may be furnished with suitable
expressions. It may seem, at first view, that these devout Jews find fault with God,
as if he exhibited his character to them in a light very different from that in which
he was wont to exhibit it; but the object they had in view undoubtedly was to obtain,
in the struggle they were resolutely maintaining against temptation, hope of relief
from the contemplation of the nature of God; as if they laid it down as a fixed
principle, that it is impossible for Him to be angry for ever. We may observe, by the
way, that it is evident, from their praying in this manner, that they were weighed
down with such an oppressive load of calamities, as to be almost unable any longer
to endure them. Let us therefore learn, that although God may not immediately
grant us manifest tokens of his returning favor, yet we must not cease to persevere
in earnest prayer. If it is objected, that then God has promised in vain that his anger
would be of short duration, I answer, that if we entertain suitable views of our own
sins, his anger will assuredly appear to be always of short continuance; and if we
call to remembrance the everlasting course of his mercy, we will confess that his
anger endures but for a moment. As our corrupt nature is ever relapsing into the
wanton indulgence of its native propensities, manifold corrections are indispensably
necessary to subdue it thoroughly.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 5. Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? See how the psalmist
makes bold to plead. We are in time as yet and not in eternity, and does not time
come to an end, and therefore thy wrath! Wilt thou be angry always as if it were
eternity? Is there no boundary to thine indignation? Will thy wrath never have
done? And if for ever angry, yet wilt thou be angry
with us, thy favoured people, the seed of Abraham, thy friend? That our enemies
should be always wroth is natural, but wilt thou, our God, be always incensed
against us? Every word is an argument. Men is distress never waste words.
Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Shall sons suffer for their
father's faults, and punishment become an entailed inheritance? O merciful God,
hast thou a mind to spin out thine anger, and make it as long as the ages? Cease
thou, as thou hast ceased aforetime, and let grace reign as it has done in days of
yore. When we are under spiritual desertion we may beg in the like manner that the
days of tribulation may be shortened, lest our spirit should utterly fail beneath the
trial.
PULPIT, "Turn us, O God of our salvation. Thou art turned to us (Psalms 85:1); let
us also be turned to thee. We cannot turn of our own mere wish to turn; we need thy
helping grace (comp. Psalms 80:3, Psalms 80:7, Psalms 80:19). And cause thine
anger toward us to cease. Verbally, this contradicts Psalms 85:3, whence it has been
supposed by some to come from the mouth of another speaker. But really there is no
contradiction, if we understand, both here and in the next verse, by God's anger, the
effects of his anger, which were still continuing (comp. Ezra 3:12, Ezra 3:13; Ezra
4:4-24; Ezra 9:2-15; ehemiah 1:3; ehemiah 2:17; ehemiah 4:1-22; ehemiah
5:1-19).

6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
BAR ES, "Wilt thou not revive us again - literally, “Wilt thou not turn, or
return, cause us to live;” that is, and cause us to live. The expression is equivalent to
“again” as in our translation. The Septuagint and Vulgate render it, “Returning, wilt thou
not give us life?” The word rendered revive means to live; to cause to live; and the idea is
that of recovering them from their condition as a state of death; that is, restoring them
as if they were dead. The image is that of returning spring after the death of winter, or
the young grass when the rain descends after a long drought, and when everything
seemed to be dead. So of the people referred to in the psalm; everything among them
was like such a winter, when there is neither leaf, nor flower, nor grass, nor fruit; or like
such a drought, when desolation is seen everywhere; or like the grave, where the dead
repose. The image of spring, after a long and dreary winter, is one also which will
properly describe the condition of the church when the influences of the Spirit have been
long withheld, and when, under the visitations of grace, religion seems to live again
among the people of God.
That thy people may rejoice in thee - In thy favor; in thy presence; in thee as
their God.
(a) There is always joy in a revival of religion. Nothing is so much suited to make a
people happy; nothing diffuses so much joy. Compare Act_8:8.
(b) This is particularly joy in God. It is because he comes near; because he manifests
his mercy; because he shows his power and his grace.
CLARKE, "Wilt thou not revive us - We have long had the sentence of death in
ourselves; and have feared an utter extinction. Shall not our nation yet live before thee?
Shall we not become once more numerous, pious, and powerful, that
Thy people may rejoice in thee? - As the Source of all our mercies; and give thee
the glory due to thy name?
GILL, "Wilt thou not revive us again,.... Their return from the Babylonish captivity
was a reviving of them in their bondage, Ezr_9:8 and the conversion of them in the
latter day will be a reviving them again, be as life from the dead; they are like the dry
bones in Ezekiel's vision, or like the dead in the graves; and their being turned to the
Lord will be a resurrection, or quickening of them, as every instance of conversion is; see
Rom_11:15, men are dead in trespasses and sins, and they are quickened by the Spirit
and grace of God, so that they revive, and live a life of sanctification; they are dead in
law, and find themselves to be so, when spiritually enlightened; when the Spirit of God
works faith in them, to look to and live upon the righteousness of Christ for justification;

and who, after spiritual decays, declensions, and deadness, are revived again, and are
made cheerful and comfortable by the same Spirit; all which may be here intended:
that thy people may rejoice in thee; it was a time of rejoicing in the Lord, when the
Jews were returned from their captivity in Babylon; but their future conversion will be
matter of greater joy, both to themselves and to the Gentiles; everlasting joy will be upon
their heads, and in their hearts, when they shall return to Zion, Psa_14:7 and so is the
conversion of every sinner joyful to himself and to others; such rejoice in Christ, in his
person, blood, and righteousness; and every view of him afterwards, as it is a reviving
time, it fills with joy unspeakable, and full of glory: the Targum is,
"and thy people shall rejoice in thy Word;''
Christ, the essential Word.
SBC, "I. As individual Christians and as Churches of Jesus Christ, we need to be very
clear in our doctrinal foundations. Beginning with the doctrine of sin, let us strive after
God’s view of it. Out of a true knowledge of sin will come a true appreciation of Jesus
Christ as the Saviour. If we lay firmly hold of these two points—the sinfulness of sin and
the work of Jesus Christ—we shall come to know what is meant by the glow of piety.
II. We must have a public ministry which is faithful to the spirit and demands of Jesus
Christ. All Christian ministers are called to be faithful to Jesus Christ in seeking the
salvation of men. We have a great positive work to do. We have affirmative truths to
teach. We have to cast out devils, not by controversy, but by Divinely revealed and
authoritative truths.
III. There is one feature in our public Christianlife that should be more fully brought out:
the bearing of individual testimony on behalf of Jesus Christ.
Parker, City Temple, 1870, p. 25.
CALVI , "The godly, still dwelling on the same theme, ask, in the 6th verse,
whether God will not turn again and quicken them Being fully convinced of the
truth of this principle, That the punishments with which God chastises his children
are only temporary; they thereby encourage themselves in the confident expectation,
that although he may be now justly displeased, and may have turned away his face
from them, yet, when they implore his mercy, he will be entreated, and raising the
dead to life again, will turn their mourning into gladness. By the word quicken, they
complain that they almost resemble persons who are dead, or that they are stunned
and laid prostrate with afflictions. And when they promise themselves matter of
rejoicing, they intimate that in the meantime they are well nigh worn out with
sorrow.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 6. Wilt thou not revive us again? Hope here grows almost
confident. She feels sure that the Lord will return in all his power to save. We are
dead or dying, faint and feeble, God alone can revive us, he has in other times
refreshed his people, he is still the same, he will repeat his love. Will he not? Why
should he not? We appeal to himâ€”

Wilt thou not? That thy people may rejoice in thee. Thou lovest to see thy children
happy with that best of happiness which centres in thyself, therefore revive us, for
revival will bring us the utmost joy. The words before us teach us that gratitude has
an eye to the giver, even beyond the giftâ€”
thy people may rejoice in thee. Those who were revived would rejoice not only in the
new life but in the Lord who was the author of it. Joy in the Lord is the ripest fruit
of grace, all revivals and renewals lead up to it. By our possession of it we may
estimate our spiritual condition, it is a sure gauge of inward prosperity. A genuine
revival without joy in the Lord is as impossible as spring without flowers, or
daydawn without light. If, either in our own souls or in the hearts of others, we see
declension, it becomes us to be much in the use of this prayer, and if on the other
hand we are enjoying visitations of the Spirit and bedewings of grace, let us abound
in holy joy and make it our constant delight to joy in God.
Ver. 6. Wilt thou not revive us again? The Hebrew is, Wilt thou not return and
revive us? We translate the verb return by the adverb again: Wilt thou not revive us
again? Thou hast given us many revives: when we were as dead men, and like
carcases rotting in the grave, thou didst revive us, wilt thou not revive us once more,
and act over those powerfully merciful works and strong salvations once more, or
again? Joseph Caryl.
Ver. 6. That thy people may rejoice in thee. Bernard in his 15th Sermon on
Canticles says Jesus is honey in the mouth, melody in the ear, joy in the heart. Is any
among us sad? Let Jesus enter the heart, and thence spring to the countenance, and
behold, before the rising brightness of his name, every cloud is scattered, serenity
returns. Origen in his 10th Hom on Genesis, has the remark, Abraham rejoiced not
in present things, neither in the riches of the words, nor deeds of time. But do you
wish to hear, whence he drew his joy? Listen to the Lord speaking to the Jews, John
8:56 : Your father, Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad:
hope heaped up his joys. Le Blanc.
Ver. 6. That thy people may rejoice in thee. When God changeth the cheer of his
people, their joy should not be in the gift, but in the Giver. David Dickson.
Ver. 6. It is the most natural thing, the most delightful thing, for the people of God
to rejoice in God. God is the fountain of joy, and whom should he fill with it but his
people? And whom should his people breathe it into again but him? This posture
God delights to have them in; this posture they delight to be in; but this cannot be in
that estate of death and captivity wherein God for a long season shutteth them up.
"The living, the living shall praise thee, "but alas, the dead cannot. John
Pennington, 1656.
Ver. 6. Truly sin kills. Men are dead in trespasses and sins, dead in law, dead in
their affections, dead in a loss of comfortable communion with God. Probably the
greatest practical heresy of each age is a low idea of our undone condition under the
guilt and dominion of sin. While this prevails we shall be slow to cry for reviving or
quickening. What sinners and churches need is quickening by the Holy Ghost.
William S. Plumer.
Ver. 6-7. Wilt thou not revive us, by the first and spiritual resurrection, and so thy
people, quickened from a life of sin to a life of grace, will rejoice in thee, not in
themselves, presuming nothing on their own power. And in order that these things

may be fulfilled in us, Shew us, O Lord, thy mercy, that is, Christ, through whom
thou hast pitied the human race, shew him to us after this exile that we may see him
face to face. Richardus Hampolus.
COKE, "Psalms 85:6. Wilt thou not revive us again— To send a people into
captivity, is to inflict civil death upon them. To restore them to their own land, is to
revive, or give them a new life: thus the final restoration of the Jewish people is
called by St. Paul, life from the dead. Green. The expression may also be taken in a
most spiritual sense.
EXPOSITORS DICTIO ARY OF TEXTS, "The Prayer of a Patriot
Psalm 85:6
An old commentator has summed up the purport of this Psalm in the following
words: "The prayer of a patriot for his afflicted country, in which he pleads God"s
former mercies and by faith foresees better days". Such a Psalm reminds us, first of
all, that a good Christian must be a good patriot, ardently concerned for the truest
welfare of his own people and his native land. Moreover, it suggests that we may
appropriate to this England of ours in a modified yet real and profound sense the
sacred word which applied originally to Israel.
I. This Psalm , with the reiterated stress which it lays on the pardon of man"s sin
and the turning away of God"s wrath, reminds us of one truth which Christian
workers never dare forget. The first and the supreme need of men is their need to be
forgiven. In the eyes of the Apostles the world seemed divided into two great classes,
the forgiven and the unforgiven. Compared with this ultimate distinction nothing
else seriously matters. While we strive for social betterment and take counsel
together over plans and efforts to cure the evils which afflict our land, let us give
due place to that Divine remedy which implicitly includes the rest.
II. Wilt Thou not quicken us again? We implore Him who is the Lord and Giver of
life to revive among us that life of the spirit which is so apt to be stifled and
deadened by the pressure of the world. othing can give thoughtful Englishmen
greater concern than the decay of high ideals alike in the politics and the literature
of the nation. And in the Church itself, while we raise vast sums of money and
multiply our religious machinery, do we not grow painfully aware of a certain
dearth and poverty of spiritual passion which can only be reinspired and rekindled
from above?
III. We note finally this test and touchstone of a real revival. It fills Christians with
new joy and delight in God Himself. As the Holy Ghost comes upon us and the
power of the Highest overshadows us the Church breaks out in a fresh Magnificat,
and sings: "My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour". And the Church becomes
the irresistible missionary when it can chant that victorious song.
—T. H. Darlow, The Upward Galling, p134.

PULPIT, "Wilt thou not revive us again! literally, wilt thou not return and revive
us? (comp. Psalms 71:20). So Ezra prays God to "give Israel a little reviving in their
bondage" (Ezra 9:8). That thy people may rejoice in thee. The "revival" and
"rejoicing" came in ehemiah's time, when the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem
was kept "with gladness, both with thanksgiving, and with singing, with cymbals,
psalteries, and with harps" ( ehemiah 12:27).
7 Show us your unfailing love, Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
BAR ES, "Shew us thy mercy, O Lord - That is, Manifest thy mercy in returning
to us; in forgiving our sins; in taking from us the tokens of thy displeasure.
And grant us thy salvation - Salvation or deliverance from our present trouble and
calamities.
CLARKE, "Show us thy mercy - Blot out all our sins.
And grant us thy salvation - Give us such a complete deliverance as is worthy of
thy majesty and mercy to bestow!
GILL, "Show us thy mercy, O Lord,.... Or, "thy grace" (o) and goodness, the riches
of which are shown forth in Christ; the mercy promised to Abraham and others, long
expected, wished, and prayed for; his pardoning mercy, justification, salvation, and
eternal life, by his free grace:
and grant us thy salvation; Jesus, the Saviour, and salvation by him, an interest in it,
and the joys of it; which is all a free gift, a grant of divine favour, and not according to
the merits and works of men.
CALVI , "7.Show us thy mercy, O Jehovah! In these words there is the same
contrast as in the preceding sentence. In supplicating that mercy may be extended to
them, and deliverance granted them, they confess that they are deprived of all sense
of both these blessings. Such having been the state of the saints in old time, let us
learn, even when we are so oppressed with calamities as to be reduced to extremity,
and on the brink of despair, to betake ourselves notwithstanding to God. Mercy is
appropriately put in the first place; and then there is added salvation, which is the

work and fruit of mercy; for no other reason can be assigned why God is induced to
show himself our Savior, but that he is merciful. Whence it follows, that all who
urge their own merits before Him as a plea for obtaining his favor, are shutting up
the way of salvation.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 7. Shew us thy mercy, O LORD. Reveal it to our poor half
blinded eyes. We cannot see it or believe it by reason of our long woes, but thou
canst make it plain to us. Others have beheld it, Lord shew it to us. We have seen
thine anger, Lord let us see thy mercy. Thy prophets have told us of it, but O Lord,
do thou thyself display it in this our hour of need.
And grant us thy salvation. This includes deliverance from the sin as well as the
chastisement, it reaches from the depth of their misery to the height of divine love.
God's salvation is perfect in kind, comprehensive in extent, and eminent in degree;
grant us this, O Lord, and we have all.
Ver. 6-7. See Psalms on "Psalms 85:6" for further information.
Ver. 7. Thy mercy. It is not merely of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed,
but all is mercy, from first to last, â€”mercy that met us by the way, â€”mercy that
looked upon us in our misery, â€”mercy that washed us from our sins in his own
blood, â€”mercy that covered our nakedness and clad us in his own robe of
righteousness, â€”mercy that led and guided us by the way, â€”and mercy that will
never leave nor forsake us till mercy has wrought its perfect work in the eternal
salvation of our souls through Jesus Christ. Barton Bouchier.
8 I will listen to what God the Lord says;
he promises peace to his people, his faithful
servants—
but let them not turn to folly.
BAR ES, "I will hear what God the Lord will speak - I, the psalmist; I,
representing the people as looking to God. The state of mind here is that of patient
listening; of a willingness to hear God, whatever God should say; of confidence in him
that what he would say would be favorable to his people - would be words of mercy and
of peace. Whatever God should command, the speaker was willing to yield to it;
whatever God should say, he would believe; whatever God should enjoin, he would do;

whatever God should ask him to surrender, he would resign. There was no other
resource but God, and there was entire confidence in him that whatever he should say,
require, or do, would be right.
For he will speak peace unto his people - Whatever he shall say will tend to their
peace, their blessedness, their prosperity. He loves his people, and there may be a
confident assurance that all he will say will tend to promote their welfare.
And to his saints - His holy ones; his people.
But let them not turn again to folly - The Septuagint and the Vulgate render this,
“To his saints and to those who turn the heart unto him.” Our common version,
however, has expressed the sense of the Hebrew; and it contains very important truths
and admonitions.
(a) The way which they had formerly pursued was folly. It was not mere sin, but there
was in it the element of foolishness as well as wickedness. All sin may be contemplated in
this twofold aspect: as wickedness, and as foolishness. Compare Psa_14:1; Psa_73:3.
(b) There was great danger that they would turn again to their former course; that
they would forget alike the punishment which had come upon them; their own
resolutions; and their promises made to God. Compare Psa_78:10-11, Psa_78:17-18,
Psa_78:31-32. Nothing is more common than for a people who have been afflicted with
heavy judgments to forget all that they promised to do if those judgments should be
withdrawn; or for an individual who has been raised up from a bed of sickness - from the
borders of the grave - to forget the solemn resolutions which he formed on what seemed
to be a dying bed - perhaps becoming more thoughtless and wicked than he was before,
as if to make reprisals for the wrong done him by his Maker, or as if to recover the time
that was lost by sickness.
(c) This passage, therefore, is a solemn admonition to all who have been afflicted, and
who have been restored, that they return not to their former course of life. To this they
should feel themselves exhorted
(1) by their obligations to their benefactor;
(2) by the remembrance of their own solemn vows made in a time of sincerity and
honesty, and when they saw things as they really are; and
(3) by the assurance that if they do return to their sin and folly, heavier judgments will
come upon them; that the patience of God will be exhausted; and that he will bear
with them no longer.
Compare Joh_5:14, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.”
CLARKE, "I will hear what God the Lord will speak - The psalmist goes as a
prophet to consult the Lord; and, having made his request, waits an answer from the
spirit of prophecy. He is satisfied that the answer will be gracious; and having received it
he relates it to the people.
He will speak peace - He will give prosperity to the people in general; and to his
saints - his followers, in particular.
But let them not turn again to folly - Let them not abuse the mercy of their God,
by sinning any more against him.
GILL, "I will hear what God the Lord will speak,.... This the psalmist says in the

Psalm 85 commentary

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Psalm 85 commentary