Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 85:6

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 85:6. 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?

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 85-86 The steadfast love of God

Israel had again suffered God’s punishment in being defeated by its enemies. The psalmist reminds God that when this happened in the past, God forgave his people and poured out his blessings on them afresh (85:1-3). Would he not, therefore, in the present crisis do the same once more (4-7)? The psalmist thinks longingly of the spiritual paradise that results when people are living in a right relation with their God. Steadfast love flows down from God and is met by covenant faithfulness from his people (8-11). And as people respond to God’s unfailing goodness, the land will enter a new era of fruitfulness, bringing fresh benefits to God’s people (12-13).

Psalms 86:0 is similar to many psalms that David wrote in his times of distress. Knowing that God is on the side of those who are treated unjustly, the psalmist calls confidently for his help. He trusts in God’s steadfast love (86:1-7). God is supreme. Both creation and history show that he is the only true God (8-10). Therefore, the psalmist desires to know him better, obey him more faithfully and praise him more constantly (11-13). On the basis of God’s close relation with him, he appeals to God to give him strength to escape those who are trying to kill him (14-17).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

A PLEA FOR SALVATION

“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” 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.”Barnes’ Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), Vol. II, p. 348.

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” “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.”C. M. Miller, co-author with Anthony L. Ash, p. 297.

“Wilt thou not quicken us again?” 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 New Birth revealed in the New Testament.

“Show us thy lovingkindness… grant us thy salvation” 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.”The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 504.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

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 Acts 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.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

The godly, still dwelling on the same theme, ask, in the 6^th 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.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 85:1-13 :

LORD, you have been favourable unto the land: you have brought back the captivity of Jacob. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people; you have covered all of their sins ( Psalms 85:1-2 ).

So the declaration of God. The favor of God to the land and to the people, bringing them back from captivity. And then the goodness of God and the forgiveness of their sins.

Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: you have turned yourself from the fierceness of your anger. Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause your anger toward us to cease ( Psalms 85:3-4 ).

And now he's speaking unto God.

Will you always be angry with us for ever? will you draw out your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again: that your people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. Surely his salvation is near them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us up in the way of his steps ( Psalms 85:5-13 ).

So the psalm begins with the declaration that God has brought us back. But yet, there hasn't been a full spiritual restoration. It would seem that God isn't really moving yet among His people. So the prayer, "Lord, are You going to be angry forever throughout all generations? Won't You return, you know, revive us again? And that we might have again the rejoicing of the Lord within our hearts. Let us experience, Lord, Your mercies." And then he makes in the end of the psalm the affirmation of his faith in the faithfulness of God. "Surely God's salvation is near. And mercy and truth have met. And righteousness and peace have kissed. For God will give that which is good and the land will yield her increase." "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. Thanksgiving and petition 85:1-7

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 85

An anonymous psalmist thanked God for forgiving and restoring His sinning people. He prayed that God would remove His wrath from them and expressed confidence in the nation’s future. Perhaps the genre is a national lament.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Even though Israel was free, she still needed spiritual restoration and revival. Because of this condition the psalmist petitioned God to put away all of His anger against His sinning people (cf. Isaiah 28:21; Ezekiel 18:32). They needed his loyal love (Heb. hesed) and His deliverance. They would rejoice when He provided these benefits fully.

"The psalms often reflect on anger. This preoccupation may seem abnormal to us, but anger is a theological concern. The psalmists invite us to deal with anger rather than skirt negative human emotions. Hence the psalms invite us to pray through anger and thus to be cleansed of evil emotions and to be filled with hope in the full inauguration of God’s kingdom." [Note: VanGemeren, p. 551. This writer provided an extended discussion of anger in the psalms on pages 551-56.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

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 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,

Psalms 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.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

To the chief musician. A psalm for the sons of Korah.

      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 show us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.

      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 (Psalms 85:1-3; Psalms 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 (Psalms 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 (Psalms 85:2; Psalms 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 (Psalms 85:3; Psalms 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."

      II. 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 (Psalms 85:7; Psalms 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.

      III. They are taught humbly to expostulate with God concerning their present troubles, Psalms 85:5; Psalms 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 (Psalms 85:6; Psalms 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,Ezra 9:8. Their return out of Babylon was as life from the dead,Ezekiel 37:11; Ezekiel 37:12. Now, Lord (say they), wilt thou not revive us again, and put thy hand again the second time to gather us in? Isaiah 126:1; Isaiah 126:4; Psalms 126:1; Psalms 126:4. Revive thy work in the midst of the years,Habakkuk 3:2. "Revive us again," (1.) "That thy people may rejoice; and so we shall have the comfort of it," Psalms 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.