Psalms 85
Old Testament · Brenton Septuagint with Greek parallel
Psalms chapter 85 is given here in full, verse by verse, in Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), with the Greek text of the Septuagint set beneath each verse. The text follows the Septuagint tradition received throughout the Orthodox Church.
16 patristic excerpts are attached to this chapter, from Saint Augustine of Hippo.
Psalms 85
1(86) A Prayer of David. O Lord, incline your ear, and listen to me; for I am poor and needy.Προσευχὴ τῷ Δαυίδ. Κλίνον Κύριε τὸ οὖς σου, καὶ εἰσάκουσόν μου, ὅτι πτωχὸς καὶ πένης εἰμὶ ἐγώ.
2Preserve my soul, for I am holy; save your servant, O God, who hopes in you.Φύλαξον τὴν ψυχήν μου, ὅτι ὅσιός εἰμι· σῶσον τὸν δοῦλόν σου ὁ Θεὸς, τὸν ἐλπίζοντα ἐπὶ σέ.
3Pity me, O Lord: for to you will I cry all the day.Ἐλέησόν με Κύριε, ὅτι πρὸς σὲ κεκράξομαι ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν.
4Rejoice the soul of your servant: for to you, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul.Εὔφρανον τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ δούλου σου, ὅτι πρὸς σὲ Κύριε ᾖρα τὴν ψυχήν μου.
5For you, O Lord, are kind, and gentle; and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon you.Ὅτι σὺ Κύριε χρηστὸς καὶ ἐπιεικὴς, καὶ πολυέλεος πᾶσι τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις σε.
6Give ear to my prayer, o Lord; and attend to the voice of my supplication.Ἐνώτισαι Κύριε τὴν προσευχήν μου, καὶ πρόσχες τῇ φωνῇ τῆς δεήσεώς μου.
7In the day of my trouble I cried to you: for you did hear me.Ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψεώς μου ἐκέκραξα πρὸς σὲ, ὅτι εἰσήκουσάς μου.
8There is none like to you, O Lord, among the gods; and there are no works like to your works.Οὐκ ἔστιν ὅμοιός σοι ἐν θεοῖς Κύριε, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι κατὰ τὰ ἔργα σου.
9All nations whom you have made shall come, and shall worship before you, O Lord; and shall glorify your name.Πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ὅσα ἐποίησας ἥξουσι, καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν ἐνώπιόν σου Κύριε, καὶ δοξάσουσι τὸ ὄνομά σου,
10For you are great, and do wonders: you are the only and the great God.ὅτι μέγας εἶ σὺ, καὶ ποιῶν θαυμάσια, σὺ εἶ ὁ Θεὸς μόνος ὁ μέγας.
11Guide me, O Lord, in your way, and I will walk in your truth: let my heart rejoice, that I may fear your name.Ὁδήγησόν με Κύριε ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ σου, καὶ πορεύσομαι ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ σου· εὐφρανθήτω ἡ καρδία μου, τοῦ φοβεῖσθαι τὸ ὄνομά σου.
12I will give you thanks, O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify your name for ever.Ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου ἐν ὅλῃ καρδίᾳ μου, καὶ δοξάσω τὸ ὄνομά σου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.
13For your mercy is great toward me; and you have delivered my soul from the lowest hell.Ὅτι τὸ ἔλεός σου μέγα ἐπʼ ἐμὲ, καὶ ἐῤῥύσω τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐξ ᾅδου κατωτάτου.
14O God, transgressors have risen up against me, and an assembly of violent men have sought my life; and have not set you before them.Ὁ Θεὸς, παράνομοι ἐπανέστησαν ἐπʼ ἐμὲ, καὶ συναγωγὴ κραταιῶν ἐζήτησαν τὴν ψυχήν μου, καὶ οὐ προέθεντό σε ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν.
15But you, O Lord God, are compassionate and merciful, longsuffering, and abundant in mercy and true.Καὶ σὺ Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς οἰκτίρμων καὶ ἐλεήμων, μακρόθυμος καὶ πολυέλεος καὶ ἀληθινός.
16Look you upon me, and have mercy upon me: give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your handmaid.Ἐπίβλεψον ἐπʼ ἐμὲ, καὶ ἐλέησόν με, δὸς τὸ κράτος σου τῷ παιδί σου, καὶ σῶσον τὸν υἱὸν τῆς παιδίσκης σου.
17Establish with me a token for good; and let them that hate me see it and be ashamed; because you, O Lord, have helped me, and comforted me.Ποίησον μετʼ ἐμοῦ σημεῖον εἰς ἀγαθὸν, καὶ ἰδέτωσαν οἱ μισοῦντές με, καὶ αἰσχυνθήτωσαν· ὅτι σὺ Κύριε, ἐβοήθησάς μοι, καὶ παρεκάλεσάς με.
The Fathers on Psalms 85
Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this chapter. Each excerpt below is drawn from the full text held in the Fathers Library; follow the link on any entry to read the whole work.
On Psalms 85:1Saint Augustine of Hippo2. “Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, and hear me” (ver. 1). He speaks in the form of a servant: speak thou, O servant, in the form of thy Lord: “Bow down Thine ear, O Lord.” He bows down His ear, if thou dost not lift up thy neck: for unto the humble He draweth near: from him that is exalted He removes afar off, except whom He Himself hath exalted from being humble. God then bows down His ear unto us. For He is above,…
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On Psalms 85:2Saint Augustine of Hippo4. “Preserve Thou My Soul, for I am holy” (ver. 2). I know not whether any one could say this, “I am holy,” but He who was in the world without sin: He by whom all sins were not committed but remitted. We own it to be His voice saying, “Preserve Thou My Soul, for I am holy;” of course in that form of a servant which He had assumed. For in that was flesh, in that, was also a Soul. For He was not, as some have…
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On Psalms 85:3Saint Augustine of Hippo5. “Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for I have cried unto Thee all day” (ver. 3). Not “one day:” understand “all day” to mean continually: from the time that the body of Christ groans being in afflictions, until the end of the world, when afflictions pass away, that man groaneth and calleth upon God: and each one of us after his measure hath his part in that cry in the whole body. Thou hast cried in thy days, and…
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On Psalms 85:4Saint Augustine of Hippo6. “Make glad the soul of Thy servant: for unto Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul” (ver. 4). Make it glad, for unto Thee have I lifted it up. For it was on earth, and from the earth it felt bitterness: lest it should wither away in bitterness, lest it should lose all the sweetness of Thy grace, I lifted it up unto Thee: make Thou it glad with Thyself. For Thou alone art gladness: the whole world is full of…
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On Psalms 85:5Saint Augustine of Hippo7. “For Thou, Lord, art good and gracious” (ver. 5).…Even prayers are often hindered by vain thoughts, so that the heart scarcely remains fixed on God: and it would hold itself so as to be fixed, and somehow flees from itself, and finds no frames in which it can enclose itself, no bars by which it may keep in its flights and wandering movements, and stand still to be made glad by its God. Scarcely does one such…
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On Psalms 85:6Saint Augustine of Hippo9. “Fix my prayer in Thy ears, O Lord” (ver. 6). Great earnestness of him who prays! That is, let not my prayer go out of Thine ears, fix it then in Thine ears. How did he travail that he might fix his prayer in the ears of God? Let God answer and say to us; Wouldest thou that I fix thy prayer in My ears? Fix My law in thy heart; “and attend to the voice of my prayer.”
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On Psalms 85:7Saint Augustine of Hippo10. “In the day of my trouble I have cried unto Thee, for Thou hast heard me” (ver. 7). A little before he had said, All the day have I cried, all the day have I been troubled. Let no Christian then say that there is any day in which he is not troubled. By “all the day” we have understood the whole of time. What then, is there trouble even when it is well with us? Even so, trouble. How is there trouble? Because…
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On Psalms 85:8Saint Augustine of Hippo11. “Among the gods there is none like unto Thee, O Lord” (ver. 8). What did he say? “Among the gods,” etc. Let the Pagans make for themselves what gods they will; let them bring workmen in silver and in gold, furbishers, sculptors; let them make gods. What kind of gods? Having eyes, and seeing not; and the other things which the Psalm mentions in what follows. But we do not worship these, he says; we do not…
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On Psalms 85:9Saint Augustine of Hippo12. “All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord” (ver. 9). He has announced the Church: “All nations.” If there is any nation which God hath not made, it will not worship Him: but there is no nation which God hath not made; because God made Adam and Eve, the source of all nations, thence all nations sprang. All nations therefore hath God made. When was this said? When before Him…
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On Psalms 85:10Saint Augustine of Hippo13. “For Thou art great, and doing wondrous things: Thou alone art the great God” (ver. 10). Let no man call himself great. Some were to be who would call themselves great: against these it is said, “Thou alone art the great God.” For what great thing is ascribed to God, when it is said that He alone is the great God? Who knows not that He is the great God? But because there were to be some who would call…
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On Psalms 85:11Saint Augustine of Hippo14. “Lead me, O Lord, in Thy way, and I will walk in Thy truth” (ver. 11). Thy way, Thy truth, Thy life, is Christ. Therefore belongeth the Body to Him, and the Body is of Him. I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. “Lead me, O Lord, in Thy way.” In what way? “And I will walk in Thy truth.” It is one thing to lead to the way, another to guide in the way. Behold man everywhere poor, everywhere in need of help.…
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On Psalms 85:12–13Saint Augustine of Hippo16. “I will confess unto Thee, O Lord my God, in my whole heart, and I will glorify Thy name for ever” (ver. 12): “for great is Thy mercy toward me, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell” (ver. 13). Do not be angry, brethren, if I do not explain what I have said as though I were certain. For I am a man, and as much as is granted to me concerning the sacred Scriptures, so much I venture to…
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On Psalms 85:14Saint Augustine of Hippo18. “O God, the transgressors of the law have arisen up against me” (ver. 14). Whom calleth he transgressors of the law? Not the Pagans, who have not received the law: for no one transgresseth that which he hath not received; the Apostle saith clearly, “For where there is no law, there is no prevarication.” Transgressors of the law he calls “prevaricators.” Whom then do we understand, brethren? If we take this…
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On Psalms 85:15Saint Augustine of Hippo19. “And Thou, Lord God, art One who hast compassion and merciful, longsuffering, and very pitiful, and true” (ver. 15). Wherefore longsuffering and very pitiful, and One who hast compassion? Because hanging on the Cross He said: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Whom prayeth He to? for whom doth He pray? Who prayeth? Where prayeth He? The Son prays to the Father, crucified for the ungodly,…
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On Psalms 85:16Saint Augustine of Hippo20. If therefore Thou art “true,” “Look upon me, and have mercy upon me: give power unto Thy servant.” Because Thou art “true,” “give power unto Thy servant” (ver. 16). Let the time of patience pass away, the time of judgment come. How, “give power”? The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. He rising again will come even to earth Himself to judge: He will appear terrible who…
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On Psalms 85:17Open Psalms 85 in the interactive reader Switch translations, hear the chapter read aloud, tap any verse for its patristic commentary, and study the Greek word by word.Saint Augustine of Hippo22. “Show me a sign for good” (ver. 17). What sign, but that of the Resurrection? The Lord says: “This wicked and provoking generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonah.” Therefore in our Head a sign has been shown already for good; each one of us also may say, “Show me a sign for good:” because at the last trumpet, at the coming of the Lord, both “the…
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