Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Psalms 86:5 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 5. 5For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 86:5: The reason or consequence in “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive” supports the surrounding claim in “A poor servant asks the merciful God to teach.”
A poor servant asks to be heard because God is already merciful
This verse is one part of that explanation in Psalms 86:1–17. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Psalms 86:1–17
Read Psalms 86:5 with 86:1–17. Read alone, “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive” could lose the individual voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 86:1–17, the individual voice carries the movement “A poor servant asks the merciful God to teach” as part of “A poor servant asks the merciful God to teach.” Its lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 86:1–17 opens Psalm 86 with “Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy” and establishes the individual voice and “A poor servant asks the merciful God to teach” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 86:5 supplies a reason or consequence through “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive” and must be read with the claim it supports.
Follow the Context
- Identify the individual voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 86:1–17; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
- Within Psalms 86:1–17, the individual voice carries the movement “A poor servant asks the merciful God to teach” as part of “A poor servant asks the merciful God to teach.” Its lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
- The prayer's humility does not authorize social humiliation, servile exploitation, or ignoring material need.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Psalms 86:5 does not allow “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse supplies a reason or consequence through “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive” and must be read with the claim it supports. The complete movement is “A poor servant asks the merciful God to teach.” The prayer's humility does not authorize social humiliation, servile exploitation, or ignoring material need.
What Remains True
In “A poor servant asks the merciful God to teach,” Psalm 86:5 supplies a reason or consequence through “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive” and must be read with the claim it supports. The resulting truth stays bounded by this movement: Confession seeks mercy and changed life while preserving truth, consequences, restitution, safeguarding, and the dignity of people harmed. The local movement is “A poor servant asks the merciful God to teach.” The unit's reviewed limit is: The prayer's humility does not authorize social humiliation, servile exploitation, or ignoring material need.
How It Can Shape Life
- Start with the line's work inside “A poor servant asks the merciful God to teach”—Psalm 86:5 supplies a reason or consequence through “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive” and must be read with the claim it supports. Then name what “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive” confesses, seek mercy without minimizing injury, and ask what truth, repair, consequence, and protection now require.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Psalms 86:1–17 — A poor servant asks the merciful God to teachSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 86:1–17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 86:1–17
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 86:1–17.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 86 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 86:1–17
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: individual and communal lament, from lament to praise, and Bible in the World; applied to Psalms 86:1–17
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 86 for Psalms 86:1–17
Open NETS Psalms ↗public health communication guidance
Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023
World Health Organization
World Health Organization, 2023
Supports: Communication safeguards against romanticizing, sensationalizing, diagnosing, blaming, or simplifying despair, isolation, death wishes, and severe loss; not exegesis.
Exact location: WHO, Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023, quick guide p. xiii and dos and don'ts pp. 11–16; applied only to modern safety-aware presentation of Psalms 86:1–17
Open the WHO communication guide ↗