Tap any verse number for what that verse means.
1LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
2Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
3Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.
4Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
5Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
6Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
7Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.
8I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
9Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
10Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
13Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.
Understand This
Psalm 85, explained
What Psalm 85 is saying
A communal prayer for national restoration, Psalm 85 moves from grateful remembrance of past restoration through urgent plea for present revival to a prophetic vision of the future. The psalm's climactic verses—where mercy and truth meet, righteousness and peace kiss—present a vision of cosmic reconciliation. The agricultural conclusion envisions the LORD giving what is good and the land yielding its harvest.
The background behind it
The psalm's reference to past restoration likely points to the return from Babylonian exile, while the plea for present revival suggests that the returned community found conditions disappointing compared to prophetic expectations. This gap between promise and reality creates the psalm's tension.
Themes running underneath
The four personified virtues meeting and kissing—chesed (mercy), emet (truth), tzedek (righteousness), and shalom (peace)—represent perhaps the most elegant theological vision in the Psalter. These attributes of God's character, which can seem contradictory, are perfectly reconciled. Christian theology sees this reconciliation accomplished at the cross.
Why it still matters
Psalm 85 addresses the frustration of partial fulfillment—when God has begun restoring but the work seems incomplete. It models persistent prayer while holding a prophetic vision of full reconciliation that sustains hope through the 'not yet.'
Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.