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Psalm 86 Bible study: Make my heart undivided

Psalm 86:15 prays back, word for word, what the LORD proclaimed before Moses in Exodus 34:6: "a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth". And 86:5's "ready to forgive" is one Hebrew word, sallach, found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.

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“Teach me your way, LORD. I will walk in your truth. Make my heart undivided to fear your name.”
Psalm 86:11 · World English Bible

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“Psalm 86:15 describes God in the same words the LORD proclaimed before Moses in Exodus 34:6.”

Is that in Psalm 86, or not? Make your call.

What's really going on

The LORD's own words, prayed back

In the text

Near its end the psalm turns to God: "But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth" (86:15). Here is what almost everyone misses: on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:4-5), when "The LORD passed by before him" (Exodus 34:6), before Moses, he proclaimed these same words: "The LORD! The LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth" (Exodus 34:6). After the names, the two lines are word for word the same in the WEB, and in Hebrew the eight words are the same too: El rachum vechannun erekh appayim verav chesed ve'emet (tap merciful, gracious, truth). The chapter on Exodus 34 shows other verses that have some of these words. Of the 13 verses in the Hebrew Bible with rachum, merciful, only Exodus 34:6 and Psalm 86:15 have the whole line. Where the LORD proclaimed his own name, "The LORD! The LORD" (Exodus 34:6), the psalm says "But you, Lord" (86:15): it speaks the words to God. It has some of them earlier too: "For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you" (86:5), with Exodus 34:6's abundant in loving kindness (tap loving kindness). The psalm doesn't mention Moses or Exodus, and these notes don't say more than that the words are the same. The chapter on Psalm 77 sets that psalm's questions beside the same verse (Psalm 77:7-9).

Honest questions

Questions people ask about Psalm 86

That was a taste

The rest of Psalm 86 is waiting in Favor

  • Poor and needy, godly, your servant
  • Make my heart undivided
  • Lines other prayers share
  • A prayer by David, after 72:20
  • All nations will come and worship
  • 6 questions as you read
  • 14 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it

סַלָּחsallachsay sal-LAKH

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "ready to forgive, forgiving". "For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you" (86:5): ready to forgive is this one word. It comes nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Strong's gives it as "from 5545", the verb salach, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "forgive, pardon". That verb is the one Moses used on Mount Sinai after the LORD proclaimed his name (Exodus 34:5-8): "pardon our iniquity and our sin" (Exodus 34:9). And abundant in loving kindness, in the same verse of the psalm, is Exodus 34:6's words (tap loving kindness).

For your group

Psalm 86 Bible study questions

  1. 1"Make my heart undivided to fear your name" (86:11). What pulls your heart in more than one direction right now?
  2. 2The psalmist comes to God as "poor and needy" (86:1) and as "your servant" (86:2). How do you think of yourself when you pray? What would change if you came the way he does?
  3. 3In 86:15 the psalmist prays back to God the words God used of himself in Exodus 34:6. Which words about who God is would you most want to pray back to him this week, and why?

Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Psalm 86 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.

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Questions

What is Favor?

Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home