Psalms 85

1 “For the leader of the music. A psalm of the sons of Korah.” O LORD! thou hast been favorable to thy land; Thou hast brought back the captives of Jacob;

Yahweh, you have been kind to [us people who live in] this land; you have enabled [us] Israeli people to become prosperous again.

2 Thou didst forgive the iniquity of thy people, And cover all their sins! (Pause)

You forgave [us], your people, for the sins that we had committed; you pardoned [us] for all our sins [DOU].

3 Thou didst take away all thy displeasure, And abate the fierceness of thy wrath.

You stopped being angry [with us] and turned away from severely punishing [us].

4 Restore us, O God of our salvation! And let thine anger towards us cease!

Now, God, the one who saves/rescues us, (restore us/make us prosperous again) and stop being angry with us!

5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? Wilt thou continue thy wrath from generation to generation?

(Will you continue to be angry with us forever?/Please do not continue to be angry with us forever.) [DOU, RHQ]

6 Wilt thou not revive us again, That thy people may rejoice in thee?

Please enable us [RHQ] to prosper again in order that [we], your people, will rejoice about what you [have done for us].

7 Show us thy compassion, O LORD! And grant us thy salvation!

Yahweh, by rescuing us [from our troubles/difficulties], show us that you faithfully love us.

8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: Truly he will speak peace to his people, and to his servants; Only let them not turn again to folly!

I want to listen to what Yahweh [our] God says, because he promises/says that he will enable [us], his people, to live peacefully, if we do not return to doing foolish things.

9 Yea, his salvation is near to those who fear him, That glory may dwell in our land.

He is surely ready to save/rescue those who revere him, in order that [his] glory/splendor will be seen in our land.

10 Mercy and truth shall meet together, Righteousness and peace shall kiss each other;

[When that happens], he will both faithfully love us and faithfully [do for us what he promised to do] [PRS]; and we will act/behave righteously, and he will give us peace, which will be like a kiss that he gives us.

11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; Righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Here on earth, we will (be loyal to/continually believe in) God, and from heaven, God will act justly/fairly [toward us].

12 Yea, Jehovah will give prosperity, And our land shall yield her increase.

Yes, Yahweh will do good things [for us], and there will be great harvests in our land.

13 Righteousness shall go before him, And set us in the way of his steps.

[Yahweh always acts] righteously [PRS, MET]; he acts righteously wherever he goes.