Text -- Psalms 86:16 (NET)

86:16 Turn toward me and have mercy on me! Give your servant your strength! Deliver your slave!

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 86:16

¹ tn Heb “the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 116:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). The use of the expression here certainly does not imply that the Lord has such a secondary wife or concubine! It is used metaphorically and idiomatically to emphasize the psalmist’s humility before the Lord and his status as the Lord’s servant.