"To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
Lord, you were favourable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you covered all their sin. Selah
3 You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your hot anger.
4 Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation towards us!
5 Will you be angry with us for ever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
8 Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
12 Yes, the Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way."
Psalm 85
We are faced with certain problems in interpretation with this Psalm, in that different commentators place different constructions upon the situation that is in view, and upon what the Psalmist is in fact saying. It is clear that the Psalm divides naturally into three sections, each one bigger than the last: 1-3 speak of a restoration that has taken place; 4-7 constitute a prayer to God to restore His people and to withdraw His anger; 8-13 tell of a Divine message given to the Psalmist, and the theme of restoration is again spoken of as already accomplished. Some scholars point out that the tenses in 1-3 and 8-13 are perfect tenses, and that the Hebrew usage of the perfect tense is often prophet- ic. In which case the Psalmist so transports himself into the future in his imagination that the future event is described as having already taken place. He envisages, therefore, the return of the 'Golden Age' as at the beginning - that is a vision of the kingdom of God in its consummation, and that this is contrasted, in 4-7, with the present period of national calamity and misfortune. Others, however, follow the traditional interpretation that what is in view is the return of the exiles from Babylon: the first exiles had come back to the land with rejoicing in the turning of their captivity (1-3) but were now dismayed and cast down at the daunting prospect of all that was to be done; for the restoration was incomplete, and their hearts were heavy. On this interpretation the third stanza is God's word of assurance to them that He that had begun a good work in them would continue and complete it. A third possible interpretation (suggested in the RSV translation) is that the Psalmist is reminding the Lord what He had done in the past for His people, and in view of the present distress was crying to Him to 'Do it again', and received the glad assurance that He would do so. The last two interpretations are not mutually incompatible, and we shall look at the Psalm in their light.