Psalms 86:16

Turn toward me and have mercy on me! Give your servant your strength! Deliver your slave! ¹ 

Ps 25:16; Ps 28:7,8; Ps 69:16; Ps 84:5; Ps 90:13; Ps 116:16; Ps 119:94; Ps 119:132; Ps 138:3; Isa 40:29-31; Isa 45:24; Zec 10:12; Lu 1:38; Eph 3:16; Eph 6:10; Php 4:13; Col 1:11

¹ tn Heb “the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 116:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). The use of the expression here certainly does not imply that the Lord has such a secondary wife or concubine! It is used metaphorically and idiomatically to emphasize the psalmist’s humility before the Lord and his status as the Lord’s servant.