Psalms 86:5

Psa 86:5 For thou, Lord, [art] good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

Ver. 5. For thou, Lord, art good, &c.] Lord, I am hell, but thou art heaven, said that martyr; faith wrappeth herself up in the promise, and goeth boldly to God by prayer.

And plenteous in mercy] Both to forgive sin and to give good, Hos 14:2.

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.

5. (Psa 86:5) For thou, Lord, art good and forgiving, and rich in mercy to all (those) invoking thee. God is not only the sovereign of his people, and as such bound by covenant to protect them, but benevolent or good in his own nature; and that not merely in the general, or in reference to all his creatures, but especially in reference to the undeserving and the ill-deserving; that is, to such of them as really desire his favour, and evince their willingness to have it by the act of asking for it. Rich (in) mercy, literally great (or much, abundant, plenteous, as to) mercy. This expression, and indeed the whole description, is borrowed from Exo 34:6.

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

86:5-7 The psalmist appeals to God to remain true to his character, which is the basis for hope.

86:5 The psalmist recounts the catalog of divine perfections (Exod 34:6-7), especially God’s willingness to forgive sin (see Pss 32:5; 85:2; 145:7-10).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He doth confess that God is good to all, but only merciful to poor sinners.

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

Verse 5. For thou, Lord, art good] I found my expectations of help on thy own goodness through which thou art always ready to forgive. And I found it also on thy well-known character, to which all thy followers bear testimony, viz., that "thou art plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee."

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

5 For thou, O Lord! art good and propitious. We have here a confirmation of the whole preceding doctrine, derived from the nature of God. It would avail the afflicted nothing to have recourse to him, and to lift up their desires and prayers to heaven, were they not persuaded that he is a faithful rewarder of all who call upon him. The point upon which David now insists is, that God is bountiful and inclined to compassion, and that his mercy is so great, as to render it impossible for him to reject any who implore his aid. He calls God propitious, or ascribes to him the attribute of pardoning sin, which is a modification of his goodness. It were not enough for God to be good in general, did he not also extend to sinners his forgiving mercy, which is the meaning of the word סלה, salach. Farther, although David magnifies the plenteousness of God’s mercy, yet he immediately after represents this plenteousness as restricted to the faithful who call upon him, to teach us that those who, making no account of God, obstinately chafe upon the bit, deservedly perish in their calamities. At the same time, he uses the term all, that every man, without exception, from the greatest to the least, may be encouraged confidently to betake himself to the goodness and mercy of God.

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.

(5) For thou.—Up to this time the psalmist has only put forward his needs in various aspects as a plea for God’s compassion. Now, not without art, he clenches his petition by an appeal to the nature itself of the Divine Being. The originals of the expressions in this verse will be found in Exo_20:6; Exo_34:6-9; Num_14:18-19.

Ready to forgive.—The Hebrew word occurs nowhere else in the form found here. Etymologically it means remitting. The LXX. have ἐπιεικὴς, a word for which perhaps our considerate is the nearest equivalent, implying that legal right is overlooked and suspended in consideration of human weakness. Wis_12:18 gives a good description of this Divine attribute.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. ready to forgive] The exact word is found only here, but for the thought see Psa_130:4; and for the whole verse cp. Exo_34:6 f.

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.

For thou, Lord, art good,.... Essentially and independently good, from whom every good and perfect gift comes; good in himself, and good to others; good to all, in a providential way; and good to his own special people in a way of grace: this is asserted by Christ, Mat 19:17.

and ready to forgive; there is forgiveness with him, and it is to be had without difficulty; he has largely provided for it; he is forward unto it, he freely giving it; it is according to the riches of his grace; he does abundantly pardon; no sooner is it asked but it is had; this David knew by experience, Psa 32:5,

and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee; in truth, in sincerity, in a right way, through Christ, and faith in him; to such not only the Lord shows himself merciful, but is rich and abundant in mercy; he has a multitude of tender mercies, and abounds in his grace and goodness, and in the donation of it to his people; all which encourage their faith and hope in their petitions to him.

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

For thou, Lord, art good ... - This is another reason why God should hear his prayer; and it is a reason which may be properly urged at all times, and by all classes of persons. It is founded on the benevolence of God; on the fullness of his mercy to all that invoke his name. We should call in vain on a God who was not merciful and ready to forgive; but in the divine character there is the most ample foundation for such an appeal. In his benevolence; in his readiness to forgive; in the plenitude of his mercy, God is all that a penitent sinner could wish him to be. For if such a sinner should endeavor to describe what he would desire to find in God as a ground of appeal in his prayers, he could not express his feelings in language more full and free than God has himself employed about his own readiness to pardon and save. The language of the Bible on this subject would express, better than any language which he could himself employ, what in those circumstances he would wish to find God to be.

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

Herewith he relieveth himself under the sense of his guilt, whereby he had brought his present calamities upon himself.

Them that call upon thee, to wit, in truth, as it is explained Psa 145:18, or with an upright heart; for if a man regard iniquity in his heart, God will not hear him, Psa 66:18.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 5. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive. Good at giving and forgiving; supplying us with his good, and removing our evil. Here was the great reason why the Psalmist looked to the Lord alone for his joy, because every joy creating attribute is to be found in perfection in Jehovah alone. Some men who would be considered good are so self exultingly indignant at the injuries done them by others, that they cannot forgive; but we may rest assured that the better a being is, the more willing he is to forgive, and the best and highest of all is ever ready to blot out the transgressions of his creatures.

And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. God does not dispense his mercy from a slender store which perchance may be so impoverished as to give out altogether, but out of a cornucopiae he pours forth the infinite riches of his mercy: his goodness flows forth in abounding streams towards those who pray and in adoring worship make mention of his name. David seems to have stood in the cleft of the rock with Moses, and to have heard the name of the Lord proclaimed even as the great lawgiver did, for in two places in this psalm he almost quotes verbatim the passage in Ex 34:6 "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth."

Ver. 5. For thou, Lord, art good, and whither should beggars go but to the door of the good house keeper? Matthew Henry.

Ver. 5. Ready to forgive. The mercy of God is a ready mercy, and his pardons are ready for his people; his pardons and mercies are not to seek, he hath them at hand, he is good and ready to forgive. Whereas most men, though they will forgive, yet they are not ready to forgive, they are hardly brought to it, though they do it at last. But God is "ready to forgive"; he hath, as it were, pardons ready drawn (as a man who would be ready to do a business, he will have such writings as concern the passing of it ready); there is nothing to do but to put in the date and the name; yea indeed, the date and the name are put in from all eternity. Thus the Scripture speaks to show how forward God is to do good; he needs not set his heart to it; his heart is ever in the exactest fitness. Joseph Caryl.

Ver. 5. Plenteous in mercy. It is a thing marvellously satisfactory and pleasing to the heart of a man to be still taking from a great heap; and upon this ground are those proverbial sayings, There is no fishing like to a fishing in the sea; no service like the service of a king: because in one there is the greatest plenty and abundance of that kind of pleasure that fishers look after; and for them that serve, and must live by their service, there is none like that of princes, because they have abundance of reward and opportunity whereby to recompense the services of those that do wait and attend upon them...

And upon the same ground is it that the Scriptures, in several places, do not only assert and testify that God is merciful and gracious, but abundant in mercy and full of grace; and not simply that there is redemption in him, but plenteousness of redemption: Ps 103:8 130:7 Isa 55:7; "Let the wicked forsake his way", etc.; "Let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy; and unto our God, for lie will abundantly pardon." The commodity which we stand in need of is mercy and the pardon of our sins, in case we have been unholy and ungodly creatures; this commodity is abundantly in God. There it is treasured up as waters are in the store house of the sea; there is no end of the treasures of his grace, mercy, pardon, and compassion. There is no man, being in want, but had ten times rather go to a rich man's door to be relieved, than to the door of a poor man, if he knoweth the rich man to be as liberal and bountifully disposed as the poor man can be. John Goodwin.

Ver. 5. Encouraging thoughts of God.

1. He has goodness in his essence.

2. He has forgiveness in readiness.

3. He has mercy in action, flowing forth from him plenteously.

4. His very discrimination is gracious"all them that call upon him."

Psalms 86:6*

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

5. Good, and ready to forgive—God’s goodness is an attribute of his nature; his forgiveness is a modification, or special exercise, of his goodness. The first is generic, the second specific.

Plenteous in mercy— His “mercy” is an emanation of his goodness, directed to man as a sinful and suffering being, through the abundant or manifold operation of which, forgiveness is bestowed.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive. The word translated "ready to forgive," jls, occurs here only; but the context sufficiently fixes its meaning, which is well expressed by the epieikhv of the LXX As God was "good" and "forgiving," he would be likely to grant the petitions just addressed to him. And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. (comp. Exo_34:6 Joe_2:13)

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

In the day of my trouble

"During my times of difficulty"

I call on you

"I pray to you"

translationWords

lord

forgive

mercy

Yahweh

pray

day

trouble

call

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