Psalms 85:1

Psalm 85 ¹ 

For the music director; written by the Korahites, a psalm.

85:1 O Lord, you showed favor to your land;

you restored the well-being of Jacob. ² 

Psalms 68:18

68:18 You ascend on high, ³ 

you have taken many captives. ⁴ 

You receive tribute ⁵  from ⁶  men,

including even sinful rebels.

Indeed the Lord God lives there! ⁷ 

¹ sn Psalm 85. God’s people recall how he forgave their sins in the past, pray that he might now restore them to his favor, and anticipate renewed blessings.

² tn Heb “you turned with a turning [toward] Jacob.” The Hebrew term שְׁבוּת (shÿvut) is apparently a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv). See Pss 14:7; 53:6.

³ tn Heb “to the elevated place”; or “on high.” This probably refers to the Lord’s throne on Mount Zion.

⁴ tn Heb “you have taken captives captive.”

⁵ tn Or “gifts.”

⁶ tn Or “among.”

⁷ tn Heb “so that the Lord God might live [there].” Many take the infinitive construct with -לְ (lamed) as indicating purpose here, but it is unclear how the offering of tribute enables the Lord to live in Zion. This may be an occurrence of the relatively rare emphatic lamed (see HALOT 510-11 s.v. II לְ, though this text is not listed as an example there). If so, the statement corresponds nicely to the final line of v. 16, which also affirms emphatically that the Lord lives in Zion.