Psalm 85:4-9

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 85:1-7

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 (Ps. 85:1-3): ?Thou has done so and... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 85:8-13

We have here an answer to the prayers and expostulations in the Ps. 85:1-7. I. In general, it is an answer of peace. This the psalmist is soon aware of (Ps. 85:8), for he stands upon his watch-tower to hear what God will say unto him, as the prophet, Hab. 2:1, 2. I will hear what God the Lord will speak. This intimates, 1. The stilling of his passions?his grief, his fear?and the tumult of his spirit which they occasioned: ?Compose thyself, O my soul! in a humble silence to attend upon God and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 85:4

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 85:5

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;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 85:6

Wilt thou not revive us again ,.... Their return from the Babylonish captivity was a reviving of them in their bondage, Ezra 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 Romans 11:15 , men are dead in trespasses and sins, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 85:7

Show us thy mercy, O Lord ,.... Or, "thy grace" F15 חסדך "bonitatem tuam", Tigurine version, Musculus; "benignitatem tuam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "gratiam tuam", Cocceius, Gejerus. 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 85:8

I will hear what God the Lord will speak ,.... This the psalmist says in the name of the people of the Jews, whom he represents, in all the foregoing expostulations and petitions, refusing to be still and quiet, and wait and listen for an answer to the above request from the Lord, who speaks by his providences, word, and Spirit; see Habakkuk 2:1 , for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints ; as he does in his word, which is the Gospel of peace; and by his ministers, who... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 85:9

Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him ,.... That have a true sense of sin and folly, are humbled for it, hate it, and depart from it, and do not return unto it; have a reverential affection for God, a sense of his goodness, particularly his pardoning grace and mercy, and fear him on account of it, and to offend him; and that serve him with reverence and godly fear: to these his salvation is nigh; temporal salvation, for that is his, it is of him, and from him; and he is a present... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 85:4

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... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 85:5

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. read more

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