Psalms 85:8-11

Context

85:8 I will listen to what God the Lord says.¹

For he will make² peace with his people, his faithful followers.³

Yet they must not⁴ return to their foolish ways.

85:9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance;⁵

then his splendor will again appear in our land.⁶

85:10 Loyal love and faithfulness meet;⁷

deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss.⁸

85:11 Faithfulness grows from the ground,

and deliverance looks down from the sky.⁹

[85:8] ¹sn I will listen. Having asked for the Lord’s favor, the psalmist (who here represents the nation) anticipates a divine word of assurance.

[85:8] ²tn Heb “speak.” The idiom “speak peace” refers to establishing or maintaining peaceful relations with someone (see Gen 37:4; Zech 9:10; cf. Ps 122:8).

[85:8] ³tn Heb “to his people and to his faithful followers.” The translation assumes that “his people” and “his faithful followers” are viewed as identical here.

[85:8] ⁴tn Or “yet let them not.” After the negative particle אֵל (’el), the prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating the speaker’s desire or wish.

[85:9] ⁵tn Heb “certainly his deliverance [is] near to those who fear him.”

[85:9] ⁶tn Heb “to dwell, glory, in our land.” “Glory” is the subject of the infinitive. The infinitive with -לְ (lÿ), “to dwell,” probably indicates result here (“then”). When God delivers his people and renews his relationship with them, he will once more reveal his royal splendor in the land.

[85:10] ⁹tn The psalmist probably uses the perfect verbal forms in v. 10 in a dramatic or rhetorical manner, describing what he anticipates as if it were already occurring or had already occurred.

[85:10] ¹⁰sn Deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. The psalmist personifies these abstract qualities to emphasize that God’s loyal love and faithfulness will yield deliverance and peace for his people.

[85:11] ¹³sn The psalmist already sees undeniable signs of God’s faithfulness and expects deliverance to arrive soon.