Psalms 85:7
in Psalms 85Show us Your loving devotion, O LORD, and grant us Your salvation.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Show us thy lovingkindness, O Jehovah, And grant us thy salvation.
KJV
Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.
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This verse in Psalms 85
Commentary
12 notes on this verseShow us, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your salvation. What in Latin is called "salvation" (salutare), in Hebrew is called "Jesus." Therefore in Hebrew it is said thus: Show us, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your salvation: Unless you first be merciful toward the human race, your Jesus will not be given to us.
This site's exposition
Restore us, O God of our salvation
on Psalms 85:4-7
The psalm turns to the present and asks God to restore the people and put His displeasure away. Two questions follow, whether the anger will last forever and run through all generations. The end named is joy in God.
This site's exposition
Show us Your loving devotion
The prayer asks to see what the people had lost sight of. Charles Spurgeon put it plainly: they had seen God's anger and now asked to see His loving devotion. Albert Barnes took salvation here as rescue from their present trouble.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"O God, You shall turn us again, and make us alive" [Psalm 85:6]. Not as if we ourselves of our own accord, without Your mercy, turn unto You, and then You shall make us alive: but so that not only our being made alive is from You, but our very conversion, that we may be made alive. "And Your people shall rejoice in You." To their own evil they shall rejoice in themselves: to their own good they shall rejoice in You. For when they wished to have joy of themselves, they found in themselves woe: but now because God is all our joy, he that will rejoice securely, let him rejoice in Him who cannot perish. For why, my brethren, will you rejoice in silver? Either your silver perishes, or thou: and no one knows which first: yet this is certain, that both shall perish; which first, is uncertain. For neither can man remain here always, nor can silver remain here always: so too gold, so garments, so houses, so money, so broad lands, so, lastly, this light itself. Be not thou willing then to rejoice in these: but rejoice in that light which has no setting: rejoice in that dawn which no yesterday precedes, which no tomorrow follows. What light is that? "I," says He, "am the Light of the world." [John 8:12] He who says unto you, "I am the Light of the world," calls you to Himself. When He calls you, He converts you: when He converts you, He heals you: when He has healed you, you shall see your Converter, unto whom it is said, "Show us Your mercy, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation" [Psalm 85:7]: Your salvation, that is, Your Christ. Happy is he unto whom God shows His mercy. He it is who cannot indulge in pride, unto whom God shows His mercy. For by showing him His salvation He persuades him that whatever good man has, he has not but from Him who is all our good. […]
Show us, O Lord, Your mercy, and grant us Your salvation. That the Savior came down is a matter of God's mercy: the physician would not have come, had not very many been sick. Because very many were sick, therefore the physician came: because we were in need of mercy, therefore the Savior came.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
They pray that God would, graciously to them and gloriously to himself, appear on their behalf: " Grant us thy salvation; grant it by thy promise, and then, no doubt, thou wilt work it by thy providence." Note, The vessels of God's mercy are the heirs of his salvation; he shows mercy to those to whom he grants salvation; for salvation is of mere mercy.
7 show us thy mercy, O L ORD , and grant us thy salvation. 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.
Show us thy mercy, O Lord,....
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
Shew us thy mercy, O Lord. Reveal it to our poor half blinded eyes. We cannot see it or believe it by reason of our long woes, but thou canst make it plain to us. Others have beheld it, Lord shew it to us. We have seen thine anger, Lord let us see thy mercy. Thy prophets have told us of it, but O Lord, do thou thyself display it in this our hour of need. And grant us thy salvation. This includes deliverance from the sin as well as the chastisement, it reaches from the depth of their misery to the height of divine love. God's salvation is perfect in kind, comprehensive in extent, and eminent in degree; grant us this, O Lord, and we have all. Having offered earnest intercession for the afflicted but penitent nation, the sacred poet in the true spirit of faith awaits a response from the sacred oracle. He pauses in joyful confidence, and then in ecstatic triumph he give utterance to his hopes in the richest form of song.
Shew us thy mercy, O Lord. Reveal it to our poor half blinded eyes. We cannot see it or believe it by reason of our long woes, but thou canst make it plain to us. Others have beheld it, Lord shew it to us. We have seen thine anger, Lord let us see thy mercy. Thy prophets have told us of it, but O Lord, do thou thyself display it in this our hour of need. And grant us thy salvation.
Show us thy mercy - Blot out all our sins. And grant us thy salvation - Give us such a complete deliverance as is worthy of thy majesty and mercy to bestow!
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Shew us thy mercy, O Lord - That is, Manifest thy mercy in returning to us; in forgiving our sins; in taking from us the tokens of thy displeasure. And grant us thy salvation - Salvation or deliverance from our present trouble and calamities.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַרְאֵ֣נוּ | harenu | show us | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ | chasdekha | covenant loyalty your | H2617 → | 247 times |
| וְ֝יֶשְׁעֲךָ֗ | veyeshakha | and salvation your | H3468 → | 36 times |
| תִּתֶּן־ | titen- | you will give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לָֽנוּ׃ | lanu | to us |
הַרְאֵ֣נוּshow us
harenuH7200 →1300 times
יְהוָ֣הO Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
חַסְדֶּ֑ךָcovenant loyalty your
chasdekhaH2617 →247 times
וְ֝יֶשְׁעֲךָ֗and salvation your
veyeshakhaH3468 →36 times
תִּתֶּן־you will give
titen-H5414 →2011 times
לָֽנוּ׃to us
lanu
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 91:16With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”
it leads to
- Proverbs 3:2
for they will add length to your days, years and peace to your life.
- Proverbs 3:16
Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
- Psalms 21:4
He asked You for life, and You granted it— length of days, forever and ever.
- Psalms 50:23
He who sacrifices a thank offering honors Me, and to him who rights his way, I will show the salvation of God.”
- Isaiah 65:20–22
No longer will a nursing infant live but a few days, or an old man fail to live out his years. For the youth will die at a hundred years, and he who fails…
- Proverbs 3:2
Through
Psalms 50:23He who sacrifices a thank offering honors Me, and to him who rights his way, I will show the salvation of God.”
it leads to
- Psalms 91:16
With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”
- James 3:13
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
- Psalms 24:4–5
He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully.
- Psalms 91:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms

This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 85; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Jerome, Homily 64, on Psalm 84 (Alternate Series); Jerome, Homily 17, on Psalm 84; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
