Psalms 85:1-13
1 LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.
4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
7 Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.
8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.
LXXXV. Prayer for the Completion of Israel's Restoration. The Ps. falls clearly into two halves. Psalms 85:1 is a prayer to God. It begins (Psalms 85:1) by commemorating God's mercy. He had restored His people (see on Psalms 14:7) and forgiven their sin, but the expectation of Jewish saints remained unfulfilled (Psalms 85:4). The reference may be to the hopes raised by the Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55). Israel did return under Cyrus (pp. 77f.), but the hopes of coming glory were disappointed.
The second half, on the contrary (Psalms 85:8), is not a prayer to God but a revelation from God, uttered perhaps by a prophet. The long-looked-for glory will surely come.
Psalms 85:8 b. unto: read, concerning. saints: see Psalms 4:3 *.
Psalms 85:8 c. Read, and concerning those who turn to Him with their heart (LXX).
Psalms 85:9. his salvation: i.e. the Messianic age. glory: the light in which God lives (set Isaiah 24:23). It was present in Solomon's Temple and in the Tabernacle but not in the second Temple, but it was to return. Observe that the religious blessing, the glory of God, comes first; then the moral virtues, mercy, truth, righteousness, peace; lastly the material blessing of abundant harvests.