Bible Strands
Psalms 86:5
For You, O Lord, are kind and forgiving, rich in loving devotion to all who call on You.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A psalmist addresses the LORD directly in the middle of a prayer, between lifting up his soul (v. 4) and asking that the plea be heard (v. 6).
The words — חֶסֶד (chesed, H2617) carries the weight of the verse; it is not generic love but covenant loyalty, the kind of steadfast faithfulness that binds a party to a promise.
The thread — The same cluster of attributes—gracious, forgiving, abounding in chesed—appears in Exodus 34:6, Psalms 145:8, and Joel 2:13, forming a recognized formula for divine character.
Why it lands — The appeal rests entirely on who God is, not on the petitioner's merit; the reader is asked to see that the prayer's validity depends on God's nature, not the caller's worthiness.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
Cross-references
- Psalms 145:8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion.
- Joel 2:13 So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster.
- Exodus 34:6 Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,
- Psalms 103:8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.
- Nehemiah 9:17 They refused to listen and failed to remember the wonders You performed among them. They stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return them to their bondage in Egypt. But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in loving devotion, and You did not forsake them.
- Acts 2:21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
- Psalms 25:8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He shows sinners the way.
- Psalms 145:18 The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.
- Ezekiel 36:37 This is what the Lord GOD says: Once again I will hear the plea of the house of Israel and do for them this: I will multiply their people like a flock.
- 1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.