Psalms 85

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.

LORD, you have been favorable to your land. You have restored the fortunes of Jacob.

You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. You have covered all their sin. Selah.

You have taken away all your wrath. You have turned from the fierceness of your anger.

Turn us, God of our salvation, and cause your indignation toward us to cease.

Will you be angry with us forever? Will you draw out your anger to all generations?

Won’t you revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your loving kindness, LORD. Grant us your salvation.

I will hear what God, the LORD, will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, his saints; but let them not turn again to folly.

Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth meet together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth springs out of the earth. Righteousness has looked down from heaven.

Yes, the LORD will give that which is good. Our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness goes before him, and prepares the way for his steps.

Chapter overviewAI-generated

Overview.
This psalm moves from remembrance of God’s past mercies to urgent prayer for renewal and ends with prophetic confidence in future restoration. It captures the posture of a people who recall divine faithfulness in national restoration but now long for a deeper renewal—spiritual revival and the visible presence of God’s glory. Set within the Psalter’s unfolding meditation on God’s covenant rule, Psalm 85 holds together historical experience, penitent intercession, and eschatological hope.

Flow.

Begins with a recital of God’s past restoration: the return from exile, forgiveness, and the withdrawal of judgment (vv. 1–3).
Shifts to communal lament and supplication, pleading for God to turn toward His people again and revive them (vv. 4–7).
Moves to a declaration of listening, as the psalmist waits for God’s word of peace (v. 8).
Culminates in a vision of the future: salvation near, divine glory present, and creation itself responding as righteousness and peace are united (vv. 9–13).

Connections.
Following chapter 84, where longing for God’s dwelling-place is expressed in deeply personal terms (“my soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord”), Psalm 85 expands this desire into corporate, covenantal hope. Where the earlier psalm celebrates closeness to God’s presence, this one confronts the distance that remains even after return from exile. It prepares the way for chapter 86, a prayer of individual supplication that echoes its themes of mercy, forgiveness, and the plea for revival, while continuing the thread of trust in God’s responsive faithfulness. The vision of peace and righteousness in 85:10–13 also anticipates the messianic hope more fully articulated in later royal psalms.

What it teaches.
God’s saving acts in history are grounds for present confidence in His mercy and future restoration. Though sin provokes His wrath, He is also the God who turns, forgives, and revives (WCF 7.3). The psalm envisions a salvation that is both spiritual and cosmic—mercy, truth, righteousness, and peace converge as divine attributes that will one day be embodied in creation’s restoration (WCF 8.6). The nearness of salvation to those who fear Him (v. 9) reflects the covenantal order of grace, where fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the condition for blessing (HC LD 32). The imagery of righteousness and peace meeting prefigures the work of Christ, in whom God reconciles justice and mercy (Canons of Dort, Head II, Art. 3).

Apply.
When remembering past mercies, pray for the revival that only God’s face can bring.

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