Psalm 86 analysis

The structure of psalm 86:

Vv.1-7 - Prayer in the day of trouble (86:1-7) 

Specifically, in the first two verses, the psalmist asks God to be willing to incline His ear to
prayer and groan for him from within the recesses of his suffering (v.1). This psalm is similar to
Psalm 55 which also alludes to pleading to God to incline his ear to the supplications of the
people. So serious was his suffering that he felt like he was about to perish, therefore (v.2) he
asked God to keep his life and save him because he firmly believed that his life was right. In
fact, he felt that he was someone who was loved by God, someone who believed in Him. He
pleaded with God that the fate of the righteous and honest should not be in vain. The petition is
continued in v.3 and v.4 asking God to have mercy on him and make him rejoice. Here he gives
the reason for his request. You are my God and I cry out to You all day long and to God he lifts
his soul. v.5 describes the basis or other reasons why he dared to ask God for help. Here are
listed some of God's qualities: kind and forgiving, abundant in loyal love. That is why in v.6 he
repeats his request again so that God will listen to his prayer. Finally, in v.7 he states that God
will answer him on the day of his distress when he cries out for help from God.

Vv. 8-10 All nations shall worship God and glorify God’s name:

The second part of this psalm mainly describes the psalmist's praise to God. First of all, he
affirms that God is supreme and there is nothing else like him whether in essence, existence and
actions. Everything is completely beyond; none can match Him. (v. 8)
Verse 9 describes a belief that all God's creatures, especially humans, will come, prostrate and
worship Him and glorify His name. This happens because God has indeed done many
miraculous deeds and God is great. (v.10)
In His greatness nothing can match Him.

Vv.11-13, the psalmist will praise God and glorify God’s name;
In verse 12, the psalmist wants to thank God with all his heart; he wanted to glorify God's
name forever and ever, (v. 12) and this was all because he had experienced God's loyal
love. The concrete manifestation of this loyal love is that it has been delivered from the
realm of the dead. (v.13)

Vv.14-17
Through his experience, David was very close to and knew God like the statement of his faith in
verse 15, that God is merciful, gracious, long-suffering and abundant in loyal love. This is his
hope, that he is not afraid to face the enemy, even though his enemy is stronger. But with the
strength of God, he will face him and defeat him so that the enemy will be ashamed because God
helped David.

Key words
Incline your ear, answer me (v.1), preserve my soul, save (v.2), be gracious (v.3) make glad the
soul, (v.4), give ear, give heed (v.6)
Teach me, unite my heart (v.11), turn to me, be gracious to me, grant strength, save (v.16) show
me a sign (v.17)

Intertextuality

v.15 and Ex. 34:6

v.15, But You, O Lord, are a God compassionate, and merciful, slow to anger,
abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Ex.34:6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed: “The Lord! The Lord! A God
compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness.

v.11 and Jer. 32:39

v.11 - Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; let my heart be undivided in
reverence to Your name.
Jer. 32:39 - I will give them a single heart and a single nature to revere Me for all time, and it
shall be well with them, with their children after them.

Parallelism

There is a synthetical parallelism between v.3 and v.5.

v.5 gives more specific information and clarity about the reason the psalmist calls the Lord all
day, because the characteristics of the Lord are that which are good, forgiving and the most
importantly is abounding in steadfast love to all who call on God’s name.

There is a synonymous parallelism between v.5 and v.15.

v.5, For You, Lord, are good, and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call
you;

v.15, But You, O Lord, are a God compassionate, and merciful, slow to anger,

abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

There is a synonymous parallelism between v.9 and v.12.

v.9, All the nations you have made will come to bow down before You, O Lord, and they
will pay honor to Your name.

v.12, I will praise You, O Lord, my God with all my heart and pay honor to Your name
forever.
Chiasm parallelism

A. Save your servant (Vv.1-4)

B. God’s goodness as the hope for the psalmist (Vv.5-6)

C. Trouble strike (v.7)

D. All nations will glorify God’s name (Vv.8-10)

D’ I will glorify God’s name (Vv.11-13)

C’ People raise up against me (Vv. 14)

B’ God’s goodness as the hope for the psalmist (v.15)

A’ Save your servant (Vv.16-17)

The D and D’ section is the center of this psalm. The psalmist gives the reasons why all
nations will glorify God’s name and D’ is the reason why the psalmist will glorify God’s
name based on his experience. Since there are two D’s in the center, therefore we can say
psalm 86 is concentric, according to Dr. Simkovich’s lecture.

Observation

The psalmist shows the characteristic of who God is.

God is great, does wondrous deeds (v. 10), merciful, gracious, slow to anger and abundant in
faithfulness. (v. 15)

The psalmist has complete confidence that God will help him.
“On the day of my trouble, I call you,” he says in v.7, “for you will answer me” (emphasis from
me), therefore the psalmist wants to praise God with all of his heart and glorify his name
forevermore, because God's mercy is great toward him; and God delivers him from the depths of
sheol. (12-13)

In these 17 short verses, the psalmist mentions the Lord's name 14 times.
As I am using Bible Hub, I was able to discover the original Hebrew actually uses different
words for “Lord.”
YHWY ‫ְהו֣ה‬ ָ ‫( י‬vv. 1,3,6,11)
Elohay ‫ֹלהי‬
֑ ַ ֱ‫( א‬vv. 2,10,12,14)
Adonay ‫( ֝אֲ ד ָֹ֗ני‬vv.4,5,8,9,12,15)
The psalmist also directly called ("you") as refers to Lord or God and described God ("your"
ears, works, ways, truth, etc.) more than 20 times. This is to show who the psalmist is talking to,
thus showing the psalmist is close to the Lord. The love in their relationship goes both ways!
God may be the Great and Only, but that greatness is exercised on behalf of those he loves. The
psalmist turns to God with as much confidence as a child turns to a beloved parent and knows
that the psalmist can trust in God’s loving care. The characteristics of God are mentioned by the
psalmist (Vv.10,15). They are the closeness of the psalmist to God and also the gratitude
expressed for all the goodness that may be received from the Lord. The psalmist wrote this
psalm as a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord who does wondrous deeds, (v.10), is merciful,
gracious, slow to anger and abundant in faithfulness (v.15).