Psalms 86:4
in Psalms 86Bring joy to Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Rejoice the soul of thy servant; For unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
KJV
Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
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This verse in Psalms 86
Commentary
11 notes on this verseRejoice the soul of thy servant. Make my heart glad, O my Maker, for I count it my honour to call myself again and again thy servant, and I reckon thy favour to be all the wages I could desire. I look for all my happiness in thee only, and therefore unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. As the heliotrope looks to the sun for its smile, so turn I my heart to thee.
This site's exposition
Be merciful to me, O Lord
on Psalms 86:3-5
The prayer moves from mercy in verse 3 to joy in verse 4, and the servant lifts up his soul as he asks. Verse 5 gives the ground as settled fact. Forgiving there is one Hebrew adjective, sallach, glossed placable, so pardon stands in God's character before the asking.
This site's exposition
I lift up my soul
The second half repeats Psalm 25, as Matthew Henry noted. Albert Barnes took lifting up the soul as effort, a man bending his whole powers to seek God. Augustine joined the two halves: the soul lifted from the bitterness of earth is the soul God makes glad.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Make glad the soul of Your servant: for unto You, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul" [Psalm 86:4]. Make it glad, for unto You 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 Your grace, I lifted it up unto You: make it glad with Yourself. For You alone are gladness: the whole world is full of bitterness. Surely with reason He admonishes His members to lift up their hearts. May they hear and do it: may they lift up unto Him what on earth is ill. There the heart decays not, if it be lifted up to God. If you had grain in your rooms below, you would take it up higher, lest it should grow rotten. Would you remove your grain, and do you suffer your heart to rot on the earth? You would take your grain up higher: lift up your heart to heaven. And how can I, do you say? What ropes are needed? What machines? What ladders? Your affections are the steps: your will the way. By loving you mount, by neglect you descend. Standing on the earth you are in heaven, if you love God. For the heart is not so raised as the body is raised: the body to be lifted up changes its place: the heart to be lifted up changes its will.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
): Unto thee, O Lord! do I lift up my soul, as he had said Ps. xxv. In all the parts of prayer the soul must ascend upon the wings of faith and holy desire, and be lifted up to God, to meet the communications of his grace, and in an expectation raised very high of great things from him. He begs that God would give a gracious audience to his prayers (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Then we may expect comfort from God when we take care to keep up our communion with God: prayer is the nurse of spiritual joy. The pleas with which he enforces these petitions. He pleads his relation to God and interest in him: "Thou art my God, to whom I have devoted myself, and on whom I depend, and I am thy servant (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
Then we may hope that God will meet us with his mercies, when we in our prayers send forth our souls as it were to meet him. [3.] To be in a special manner earnest with God in prayer when he was in affliction (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Rejoice the soul of thy servant,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Rejoice the soul of thy servant. Make my heart glad, O my Maker, for I count it my honour to call myself again and again thy servant, and I reckon thy favour to be all the wages I could desire. I look for all my happiness in thee only, and therefore unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. As the heliotrope looks to the sun for its smile, so turn I my heart to thee. Thou art as the brazen serpent to my sick nature, and I lift up my soul's eye to thee that I may live. I know that the nearer I am to thee the greater is my joy, therefore be pleased to draw me nearer while I am labouring to draw near. It is not easy to lift a soul at all; it needs a strong shoulder at the wheel when a heart sticks in the miry clay of despondency: it is less easy to lift a soul up to the Lord, for the height is great as well as the weight oppressive; but the Lord will take the will for the deed, and come in with a hand of almighty grace to raise his poor servant out of the earth and up to heaven.
Rejoice the soul of thy servant - I want spiritual blessings; I want such consolations as thou dost impart to them that love thee; I present that soul to thee which I wish thee to console.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Rejoice the soul of thy servant - Cause me to rejoice; to wit, by thy gracious interposition, and by delivering me from danger and death. For unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul - Compare the notes at Psa 24:4. The idea is that of arousing himself, or exerting himself, as one does who makes strenuous efforts to obtain an object. He was not languid, or indifferent; he did not put forth merely weak and fitful efforts to find God, but he bent his whole powers to that end; he arouses himself thoroughly to seek the divine help. Languid and feeble efforts in seeking after God will be attended with no success. In so great a matter - when so much depends on the divine favor - when such great interests are at stake - the whole soul should be roused to one great and strenuous effort; not that we can obtain his favor by force or power, and not that any strength of ours will prevail of itself, but (a) because nothing less will indicate the proper intensity of desire; and (b) because such is his appointment in regard to the manner in which we are to seek his favor. Compare Mat 7:7-8; Luk 13:24; Luk 16:16.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שַׂ֭מֵּחַ | sameach | make glad | H8055 → | 155 times |
| נֶ֣פֶשׁ | nefesh | [the] self of | H5315 → | 754 times |
| עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ | ʾavdekha | servant your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֵלֶ֥יךָ | ʾeleikha | to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֲ֝דֹנָ֗י | ʾadonai | O Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| נַפְשִׁ֥י | nafshi | being my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| אֶשָּֽׂא׃ | ʾesa' | I lift up | H5375 → | 656 times |
שַׂ֭מֵּחַmake glad
sameachH8055 →155 times
נֶ֣פֶשׁ[the] self of
nefeshH5315 →754 times
עַבְדֶּ֑ךָservant your
ʾavdekhaH5650 →799 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אֵלֶ֥יךָto you
ʾeleikhaH413 →5510 times
אֲ֝דֹנָ֗יO Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
נַפְשִׁ֥יbeing my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
אֶשָּֽׂא׃I lift up
ʾesa'H5375 →656 times
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
Isaiah 61:3to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be…
it leads to
- Isaiah 61:10
I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 30:11
You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
- Jeremiah 17:7–8
But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.
- John 16:20
Truly, truly, I tell you, you will weep and wail while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
- Isaiah 61:10
Through
Psalms 143:8Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.
it leads to
- Psalms 25:4–5
Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.
- Proverbs 3:5–6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
- Psalms 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will give you counsel and watch over you.
- Psalms 25:4–5
Through
Psalms 51:12Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.
it leads to
- Isaiah 41:10
Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand…
- Isaiah 41:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
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 86; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.