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Passage Research

Psalm 85 — Sermon Preparation

Below is a research summary for Psalm 85, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.

14
verses
96 / 67
Hebrew words / lemmas
8
classic sermon excerpts
4
preachers & commentators

Psalm 85 in the Hebrew

Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.

Hebrew Transliteration Strong's Count Glosses
שׁוּב shûwb H7725 5 turn, return
יֶשַׁע yeshaʻ H3468 3 liberty, deliverance
צֶדֶק tsedeq H6664 3 right, equity
אֶמֶת ʼemeth H571 2 stability, certainty
עַם ʻam H5971 3 people, tribe
דּוֹר dôwr H1755 2 revolution, age
נָתַן nâthan H5414 3 give, put

How preachers through history handled this text

8 public-domain excerpts on Psalm 85, from the church fathers to the Puritans.

Matthew Henry 3 Alexander MacLaren 2 Spurgeon 2 John Wesley 1

“Interpreters are generally of the opinion that this psalm was penned after the return of the Jews out of their captivity in Babylon, when they still remained under some tokens of God's displeasure, which they here pray for the removal of. And nothing appears to the contrary, but that it might be penned then, as well as Ps. cxxxvii. They are the public interests that lie near the psalmist's heart here, and the psalm is penned for the great congregation. The church was here in a deluge; above were clouds, below were waves; …”

— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3 (Job to Song of Solomon), on Psalm 85:1–30 (Public Domain)

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Greek exegesis, historical background, current scholarship, sermon outlines, illustrations — a complete PDF report on Psalm 85, delivered in 45 minutes.