Psalm 85: A Prayer for Restored Mercy

85:1 O Lord, you showed favor to your land; you restored the well-being of Jacob. 85:2 You pardoned the wrongdoing of your people; you forgave all their sin. (Selah) 85:3 You withdrew all your fury; you turned back from your raging anger. 85:4 Restore us, O God our deliverer! Do not be displeased with us! 85:5 Will you stay mad at us forever? Will you remain angry throughout future generations? 85:6 Will you not revive us once more? Then your people will rejoice in you! 85:7 O Lord, show us your loyal love! Bestow on us your deliverance! 85:8 I will listen to what God the Lord says. For he will make peace with his people, his faithful followers. Yet they must not return to their foolish ways. 85:9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance; then his splendor will again appear in our land. 85:10 Loyal love and faithfulness meet; deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. 85:11 Faithfulness grows from the ground, and deliverance looks down from the sky. 85:12 Yes, the Lord will bestow his good blessings, and our land will yield its crops. 85:13 Deliverance goes before him, and prepares a pathway for him. Psalm 86 A prayer of David.

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible®, copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Psalm 85 remembers that the Lord once showed favor, forgave sin, and turned away his anger from his people. It then asks him to restore them again. The psalm expects God to give peace and deliverance, but not a return to folly. It ends with a beautiful picture of loyal love, faithfulness, righteousness, peace, and blessing meeting together.

The psalm begins by looking back. God had shown favor to his land. He had forgiven the sin of his people and withdrawn his wrath. That past mercy becomes the ground for the present prayer.

The people then cry out for renewal. They ask God to restore them, show them loyal love, and give them deliverance again. Their hope is not based on their own worth. It rests on God’s mercy and character.

The psalm also includes a serious warning. God will speak peace to his people, but they must not return to foolish ways. Peace is not a permission to keep sinning. Mercy calls for repentance.

The closing verses use poetic pictures. Loyal love and faithfulness are joined together. Deliverance and peace meet. Faithfulness comes up from the ground, and deliverance looks down from the sky. These images show a restored covenant life, with blessing, order, and fruitfulness under the Lord’s hand.

• God’s past mercy is a reason to ask for mercy again.
• Sin brings real divine displeasure.
• God can forgive sin and turn away wrath.
• Prayer should ask for restoration, not only relief.
• God’s peace is not meant to excuse a return to folly.
• The psalm joins loyal love, faithfulness, righteousness, peace, and deliverance.
• The blessing pictured here includes the land and its fruitfulness in Israel’s covenant life.

• Warning: do not return to foolish ways.
• Warning: peace must not be separated from repentance.
• Promise: God will speak peace to his people.
• Promise: God’s loyal followers will experience his deliverance.
• Command: listen to what God the Lord says.
• Command: pray for restoration and deliverance.

This psalm belongs to Israel’s covenant life. It shows that God’s discipline, forgiveness, peace, and land blessing all stand together under his rule. In the wider Bible, it adds to the hope that God will finally unite righteousness and peace in his saving work.

Believers can pray like this psalm. They can remember past mercy and ask God for new mercy. They should also take sin seriously and not treat peace as permission to keep walking in folly. The psalm teaches communities to seek God’s favor together and to trust him for full restoration under his hand.

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