Psalms 86:3

Psa 86:3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.

Ver. 3. Be merciful unto me] Lest any should, by the former words (I am holy), suspect him to be a merit monger, he beggeth mercy, with instancy and constancy of request.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. (Psa 86:3) Be gracious unto me, 0 Lord, for unto thee will I cry all the day. The prayer is still substantially the same, but enforced by two additional reasons: one implied in the divine name used, to wit, that God is his sovereign, and as such bound to protect his subject; the other expressed, namely, that his subject never ceases to invoke his aid. The future meaning of the verb includes the present, but suggests the additional idea of determination to pursue the same, course till the blessing is obtained. Compare Gen 32:26, Luk 18:1. All the day is a common idiomatic phrase equivalent to all the time in English, and may therefore be considered as including, though it does not formally express, the idea of every day or daily. See above, on Psa 42:3; Psa 42:10.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which was a sure token that he believed that God would deliver him.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 3. Be merciful unto me] I have no merit; I plead none, but trust in thee alone.

I cry unto thee daily.] My state deeply affects me; and I incessantly cry for thy salvation.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3 Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah! The Psalmist again betakes himself to the mercy of God. The word חנן, chanan, which I have rendered have mercy, is substantially the same as to gratify, to do a pleasure. It is as if he had said, I bring no merit of my own, but humbly pray for deliverance solely on the ground of thy mercy. When he speaks of crying daily, it is a proof of his hope and confidence, of which we have spoken a little before. By the word cry, as I have already had occasion frequently to remark, is denoted vehemence and earnestness of soul. The saints do not indeed always pray with a loud voice; but their secret sighs and groanings resound and echo upwards, and, ascending from their hearts, penetrate even into heaven. The inspired suppliant not only represents himself as crying, but as persevering in doing so, to teach us that he was not discouraged at the first or second encounter, but continued in prayer with untiring earnestness. In the following verse, he expresses more definitely the end for which he besought God to be merciful to him, which was, that his sorrow might be removed. In the second clause, he declares that there was no hypocrisy in his crying; for he lifted up his soul to God, which is the chief characteristic of right prayer.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

3. Be gracious unto me, O Lord;

For unto thee do I cry all the day long.

See Psa_57:1-2, and elsewhere (Psa_3:4; Psa_4:1; &c.).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be merciful unto me, O Lord,.... In my distressed and miserable condition, being an object of mercy, pity, and compassion; this petition is used by Christ in Psa 41:10.

for I cry unto thee daily; or "all the day"; every day, and several times in a day, Psa 55:17 constant and importunate prayer is the duty of saints, and available with God, Th1 5:17. Christ was much in the exercise of it, Luk 6:12.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Be merciful unto me, O Lord - It was mercy after all that he relied on, and not justice. It was not because he had any claim on the ground that he was “holy,” but all that he had and hoped for was to be traced to the mercy of God.

For I cry unto thee daily - Margin, as in Hebrew, “All the day.” The meaning is, that he did this constantly, or without intermission.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 3. Be merciful unto me, O Lord. The best of men need mercy, and appeal to mercy, yea to nothing else but mercy; they need it for themselves, and crave it eagerly of their God as a personal requisite.

For I cry unto thee daily. Is there not a promise that importunity shall prevail? May we not, then, plead our importunity as an argument with God? He who prays every day, and all the day, for so the word may mean, may rest assured that the Lord will hear him in the day of his need. If we cried sometimes to man, or other false confidences, we might expect to be referred to them in the hour of our calamity, but if in all former times we have looked to the Lord alone, we may be sure that he will not desert us now. See how David pleaded, first that he was poor and needy, next that he was the Lord's set apart one, then that he was God's servant and had learned to trust in the Lord, and lastly that he had been taught to pray daily; surely these are such holy pleadings as any tried believer may employ when wrestling with a prayer hearing God, and with such weapons the most trembling suppliant may hope to win the day.

Ver. 3. Be merciful unto me. Lest any should by the former words, ("I am holy", )suspect him to be a merit monger, he beggeth mercy with instancy and constancy of request. John Trapp.

Ver. 3. I cry unto thee daily. A great difference between saints and sinners in prayer is that sinners who pray at all, pray only when they are in trouble, whereas saints cry daily unto God. Compare Job 27:10. William S. Plumer.

Ver. 3. Importunity.

1. When she pleads"daily".

2. How she pleads"I cry".

3. To whom she pleads"unto thee".

4. For what she pleads"be merciful".

Ver. 3. I will cry daily for pardoning, sanctifying, assisting, preserving, providing and guiding mercy. William Jay.

Psalms 86:4*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Be merciful unto me, O Lord; for I cry unto thee daily; rather, all day long (Revised Version).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

all day long

This is an exaggeration. David cries out continually, but not literally at all times from dawn to dusk. AT: "continually" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)

Make your servant glad

David refers to himself as "your servant," that is, God's servant. AT: "Make me, your servant" or "Make me" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

translationWords

mercy

lord

cry

servant

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

all the days All the days of the exile, which is day for the wicked and night for the righteous. It is explained in this manner in Aggadath Tehillim (Mid. Ps. 86:2).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.