Passage

Psalms 86.15

Book: Psalms · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

13. For great is thy lovingkindness toward me; And thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol. 14. O God, the proud are risen up against me, And a company of violent men have sought after my soul, And have not set thee before them.

15. But thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

Oh turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; Give thy strength unto thy servant, And save the son of thy handmaid. 17. Show me a token for good, That they who hate me may see it, and be put to shame, Because thou, Jehovah, hast helped me, and comforted me. (Psalms 86:13-17, ASV)

WEB

13. For your loving kindness is great toward me. You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol. 14. God, the proud have risen up against me. A company of violent men have sought after my soul, and they don’t hold regard for you before them.

15. But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.

Turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give your strength to your servant. Save the son of your servant. 17. Show me a sign of your goodness, that those who hate me may see it, and be shamed, because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me. (Psalms 86:13-17, WEB)

KJV

13. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. ^{hell: or, grave} 14. O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them. ^{violent: Heb. terrible}

15. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. 17. Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me. (Psalms 86:13-17, KJV)

YLT

13. For Thy kindness [is] great toward me, And Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol. 14. O God, the proud have risen up against me, And a company of the terrible sought my soul, And have not placed Thee before them,

15. And Thou, O Lord, [art] God, merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abundant in kindness and truth.

Look unto me, and favour me, Give Thy strength to Thy servant, And give salvation to a son of Thine handmaid. 17. Do with me a sign for good, And those hating me see and are ashamed, For Thou, O Jehovah, hast helped me, Yea, Thou hast comforted me! (Psalms 86:13-17, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the psalmist; the superscription assigns the psalm to David
Audience: God, addressed directly in prayer
Location: the sanctuary and its liturgy, rather than a narrative setting
Time period: the monarchy or later; individual psalms are difficult to date and the Psalter was compiled over centuries

Theological reading

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

A citation rather than a fresh composition. The words are the self-description God gives Moses at Exodus 34:6, and they recur throughout the Hebrew Bible in Joel, Jonah, Nehemiah and the Psalms.

That recurrence is the theological datum. When Israel wanted to say what God is like, it repeated the formula God had given, and the repetition functions as an appeal: the psalmist is not describing God so much as holding him to his own words.

The formula's origin matters too. It is spoken at the renewal of the covenant after the golden calf, so the fullest statement of divine mercy in the Hebrew Bible is given at the moment of Israel's worst failure. Jonah later quotes it as a complaint, which is a measure of how firmly it was fixed.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H0571 - emet, emet, Strong's H0571
H0410 - el, el, Strong's H0410
H2617 - hesed, hesed, Strong's H2617
H0136 - adonai, adonai, Strong's H0136

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

OT vs NT God Objection Defeater

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.