Discovery BoxPsalms 85:8-11 
Context85:8 I will listen to what God the Lord says. 1
For he will make 2 peace with his people, his faithful followers. 3
Yet they must not 4 return to their foolish ways.
85:9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance; 5
then his splendor will again appear in our land. 6
85:10 Loyal love and faithfulness meet; 7
deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. 8
85:11 Faithfulness grows from the ground,
and deliverance looks down from the sky. 9
1 sn I will listen. Having asked for the Lord’s favor, the psalmist (who here represents the nation) anticipates a divine word of assurance.
2 tn Heb “speak.” The idiom “speak peace” refers to establishing or maintaining peaceful relations with someone (see Gen 37:4; Zech 9:10; cf. Ps 122:8).
3 tn Heb “to his people and to his faithful followers.” The translation assumes that “his people” and “his faithful followers” are viewed as identical here.
4 tn Or “yet let them not.” After the negative particle אֵל (’el), the prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating the speaker’s desire or wish.
5 tn Heb “certainly his deliverance [is] near to those who fear him.”
6 tn Heb “to dwell, glory, in our land.” “Glory” is the subject of the infinitive. The infinitive with -לְ (lÿ), “to dwell,” probably indicates result here (“then”). When God delivers his people and renews his relationship with them, he will once more reveal his royal splendor in the land.
7 tn The psalmist probably uses the perfect verbal forms in v. 10 in a dramatic or rhetorical manner, describing what he anticipates as if it were already occurring or had already occurred.
8 sn Deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. The psalmist personifies these abstract qualities to emphasize that God’s loyal love and faithfulness will yield deliverance and peace for his people.
9 sn The psalmist already sees undeniable signs of God’s faithfulness and expects deliverance to arrive soon.
