to be pleased with · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
land
אַרְצֶ֑ךָ'ar.Tze.kha
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
back
שַׁ֝֗בְתָּShav.ta
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
captivity
שְׁבִ֣יתshe.Vit
H7622
exile · noun, common feminine singular construct
Jacob
יַעֲקֹֽבya.'a.Ko
H3290
Jaakob · proper noun, a man's name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 30:18 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be…
Psalms 14:7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Isr…
Ezekiel 39:25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be…
Psalms 77:7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?
Leviticus 26:42 Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will…
Psalms 42:1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
Psalms 126:1-2 When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
Joel 2:18 Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 85:1-7
The church, in affliction and distress, is here, by direction from God, making her application to God. So ready is God to hear and answer the prayers of his people that by his Spirit in the word, and in the heart, he indites their petitions and puts words into their mouths. The people of God, in a very low and weak condition, are here taught how to address themselves to God.
I. They are to acknowledge with thankfulness the great things God had done for them (Psa 85:1-3): "Thou has done so and so for us and our fathers." Note, The sense of present afflictions should not drown the remembrance of former mercies; but, even when we are brought very low, we must call to remembrance past experience…
Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land,.... The land of Canaan, which the Lord chose for the people of Israel, and put them into the possession of it; and where he himself chose to dwell, and had a sanctuary built for him; and therefore though the whole earth is his, yet this was his land and inheritance in a peculiar manner, as it is called, Jeremiah 16:18, the inhabitants of it are meant, to whom the Lord was favourable, or whom he graciously accepted, and was well pleased with and delighted in, as appears by his choosing them above all people to be his people; by bringing them out of Egyptian bondage, by leading them through the Red sea and wilderness, by feeding and protecting the…
Psalm 85:1-4
1. O Jehovah! thou hast been favorable to thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. 2. Thou hast taken away the iniquity [473] of thy people: thou hast covered all their sins. Selah. 3. Thou hast turned away all thy anger: thou hast drawn back the fury of thy indignation. 4. Turn us, O God of our salvation! and cause thy anger against us to cease.
1 O Jehovah! thou hast been favorable to thy land. Those who translate these words in the future tense, in my opinion, mar their meaning. This psalm, it is probable, was endited to be sung by the people when they were persecuted by the cruel tyranny of Antiochus; and from the deliverance wrought for them in the past, t…
The Church Fathers
To the end, a psalm for the sons of Korah. Korah is interpreted as "Skull," the place of the Lord's passion. We are all sons of Korah, we who believe in his resurrection. What then do we say, and what do we sing with harmonious voice?
You have blessed, O Lord, Your land. This is spoken of the coming of the Savior. This properly according to the history; but according to the tropology, after we have spoken of the history, we shall discourse afterwards. You have blessed, O Lord, Your land. This we have said of the coming of the Savior. The land which had offended You, which had been defiled with idolatries, was saved when You came. You have blessed, O Lord, Your land. Let the sinner speak, and then, having obtained pardon: You have blessed, O Lord, Your land. Although it brought forth thistles and thorns, yet it is Your creation, and therefore it was saved. You have turned away the captivity of Jacob: of those who have believed in Christ. You have turned away the captivity of Jacob. Whoever is in sins is held captive.
You have blessed, O Lord, your land. It is better said in Greek, Εὐδόκησας Κύριε, that is, "It has well pleased you, O Lord, in regard to your land"; it has pleased you, this has seemed good to you, this you have decreed, that through your mercy you might fulfill what is said in the following verse: You have turned away the captivity of Jacob, you have forgiven the iniquity of your people, you have covered all their sins. But we can also understand it according to the Latin sense. You have blessed, O Lord, your land. The land, which before had been cursed, has been blessed by your coming. That which before had heard, "Thorns and thistles shall you bring forth," now is called, as is written in the Song of Songs, "the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys." The land, which before brought forth thorns, hears in Isaiah: "There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up from his root." You have turned away the captivity of Jacob. The Lord therefore came to preach release to the captives. This is what is said in another place, "He led captivity captive": that is, we who before had been taken captive by the devil unto perdition, are now taken captive by the Savior unto salvation.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Palestine — Originally denoted only the sea-coast of the land of Canaan inhabited by the Philistines (Ex. 15:14; Isa. 14:29, 31; Joel 3:4), and in this sense exclusively the Hebrew name Pelesheth (rendered…
Favour Of God, The · To be acknowledged — To be acknowledged
Nation · Prayer for — Prayer for
Patriotism · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The poet first of all looks back into the past, so rich in tokens of favour. The six perfects are a remembrance of former events, since nothing precedes to modify them. Certainly that which has just been experienced might also be intended; but then, as Hitzig supposes, Psa 85:5-8 would be the petition that preceded it, and Psa 85:9 would go back to the turning-point of the answering of the request - a retrograde movement which is less probable than that in shuwbeenuw, Psa 85:5, we have a transition to the petition for a renewal of previously manifested favour. (שׁבית) שבּ שׁבוּת, here said of a cessation of a national judgment, seems to be meant literally, not figuratively (vid., Psa 14:7).…
Ps 85 The psalmist leads the postexilic community in lament and prayer for full redemption. He ponders God’s past rescue of Israel from exile (85:1-3), longs for greater evidence of God’s goodness, and leads the community in prayer for full restoration (85:4-7). God responds with a message of peace (85:8-9), and the psalm concludes with a lyrical outburst at the grandeur of God’s salvation (85:10-13).
85:1-5 Though the psalmist gratefully acknowledges God’s goodness, he also asks God whether his wrath will last forever.
85:1 God restored the fortunes of Israel by bringing the nation back from exile (see 14:7; 126:1).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 85:1
Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land. The self existent, all sufficient Jehovah is addressed: by that name he revealed himself to Moses when his people were in bondage, by that name he is here pleaded with. It is wise to dwell upon that view of the divine character which arouses the sweetest memories of his love. Sweeter still is that dear name of "Our Father, "with which Christians have learned to commence their prayers. The psalmist speaks of Canaan as the Lord's land, for he chose it for his people, conveyed it to them by covenant, conquered it by his power, and dwelt in it in mercy; it…
