Psalms 86:1 · Bible study
Psalms 86:1 Commentary: Study, Poor and Needy
Hebrew · 12 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore Psalm 86:1: why 'poor and needy' is a reason God hears prayer. Hebrew insights, historical context, commentary, and application.
Research Summary
- Meaning: A plea for God to listen, grounded in the psalmist's utter dependence and distress.
- Key words: Ani (afflicted, poor) and evyon (needy) together point to a person without resources or human help.
- Main debate: Whether 'poor and needy' refers mainly to literal poverty or to spiritual humility, most commentators see both.
- Theological theme: God's special care for the lowly; need itself is a valid ground for prayer.
- Best use: A model of honest prayer for anyone who feels too weak or broken to approach God boldly.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
WEB World English Bible 2000
A Prayer by David. Hear, Yahweh, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
KJV King James Version 1769
Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Bow down thine ear, O Jehovah, and answer me; For I am poor and needy.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
A Prayer of David. Incline, O Jehovah, Thine ear, Answer me, for I am poor and needy.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
Incline thine ear, Jehovah, answer me; for I am afflicted and needy.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
For the sons of Core, a psalm of a canticle. The foundations thereof are the holy mountains:
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Oración de David. INCLINA, oh Jehová, tu oído, y óyeme; porque estoy afligido y menesteroso.
Inclina teus ouvidos, SENHOR, e ouve-me, porque estou aflito e necessitado.
Prière de David.
Ein Gebet Davids. HERR, neige deine Ohren und erhöre mich; denn ich bin elend und arm.
Een gebed van David. HEERE! neig Uw oor, verhoor mij; want ik ben ellendig en nooddruftig.
Preghiera di Davide. Inclina l’orecchio tuo, o Eterno, e rispondimi, perché io sono afflitto e misero.
Modlitwa Dawidowa. Nakłoń, Panie! ucha twego, a wysłuchaj mię; bomci nędzny i ubogi.
Сынов Кореевых. Псалом. Песнь.
（大衛的 祈禱。）耶和華啊，求你側 耳 應允我，因 我是 困苦 窮乏的。
Let your ears be open to my voice, O Lord, and give me an answer; for I am poor and in need.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Psalms 86:1
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that the psalmist grounds his plea in being poor and needy, a condition that elicits God's attention. Adam Clarke reads the words literally: David was destitute, lacking necessities. Gill allows both a literal sense, David in material want, and a spiritual one: all believers are poor in spirit, sensible of their emptiness. Spurgeon calls the phrase 'doubly a son of poverty' and insists that misery is mercy's master argument. The Cambridge Bible notes that the terms poor and needy place the psalmist among those God has promised to help (Psalm 12:5). Calvin and Barnes see the reason as a legitimate argument in prayer: the petitioner rehearses his need not to inform God, but to strengthen his own faith. Keil and Delitzsch, while skeptical of Davidic authorship, agree the words express utter dependence. Across traditions, the core conviction is clear: God stoops to hear those who have nothing else to offer but their need.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: The psalmist appeals to God based on his lowly condition, trusting that God answers the prayer of the needy.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Historic setting of the psalm | The psalm is titled a prayer of David and fits a context of persecution or distress. | Some scholars (e.g., Keil and Delitzsch) argue it is a later composition using Davidic language; others accept direct Davidic authorship. |
| Meaning of 'poor and needy' | The terms refer to a person in lowly, dependent circumstances. | Some emphasize literal material need (Adam Clarke); others stress spiritual poverty and humility (Gill, Spurgeon). Most allow both layers. |
| The reason God hears the plea | God hears because of his character, he is good and merciful to the needy. | Whether the primary reason is the psalmist's need (his condition) or his trust (his relation to God) is weighted differently by commentators. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Psalm 86 stands among the Korahite psalms but bears the title 'A Prayer by David.' Its language is direct, more liturgical than poetic. The opening image, Bow down thine ear, uses human posture to express divine condescension. In ancient Israel, to incline the ear was to give attentive, personal hearing, as a king might bend toward a subject too low to reach his throne.
The key Hebrew words are ani (afflicted, poor) and evyon (needy, in want). Together they describe someone who is both oppressed and without resources, a person who belongs to a class God repeatedly promises to defend. The Law commanded care for the poor (Leviticus 19:10). The Prophets pronounced judgment on those who crushed the needy (Amos 2:6, 7). The Psalms often present the poor as those who trust in God when no human help remains. Cross-references such as Psalm 34:6 ('This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him') and Psalm 40:17 ('But I am poor and needy; may the Lord think about me') reinforce this pattern.
The social world of the psalm suggests a season of persecution or exile. David, if the author, spoke from experience under Saul or Absalom. Later readers applied the words to any situation, national, communal, or personal, where God's people had nothing left but God.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant textual variants for Psalm 86:1. The Hebrew is stable across manuscripts. The main variation is in the divine name: most manuscripts read Yahweh, but some later scribes substituted Adonai in reverence. This does not affect the meaning of the verse.
Reception History
Early Jewish tradition read this psalm as a model prayer for times of national distress. The Church Fathers, especially Augustine, saw David as a type of Christ, whose poverty of spirit became a pattern for believers. Medieval interpreters often allegorized the 'poor and needy' as the soul stripped of worldly attachments. Reformation commentators like Calvin and Luther stressed both the physical reality of David's trials and the spiritual attitude of humility. In modern practice, Psalm 86:1 is widely used in personal and liturgical prayers as an honest starting point for anyone who comes to God empty-handed.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Bold Petition: 'Hear, Yahweh, and answer me.' The psalmist uses the covenant name of God and asks not for attention but for action.
- Honest Self-Description: 'For I am poor and needy.' He does not offer his worthiness; he offers his emptiness. This is the only argument many prayers ever need.
- Confidence in God's Character: The plea assumes that God is a God who hears the poor. The rest of the psalm (verses 5, 15) will unpack why, because God is good, forgiving, and abounding in steadfast love.
Five-point outline
- The Address: The psalmist invokes Yahweh, the personal God of the covenant.
- The Posture: 'Bow down your ear', God must stoop; the petitioner knows his own lowness.
- The Request: 'Answer me', not merely a hearing, but a response.
- The Argument: 'For I am poor and needy.' Need itself is the ground of appeal.
- The Implicit Trust: He would not pray at all if he did not believe God hears the lowly.
Illustration hooks
- A person who has lost everything in a disaster, home, savings, security, stands before a relief agency with empty hands. Their need is their only credential.
- A child too small to reach a high shelf asks an adult to lift her. She cannot offer payment or skill; she can only hold up her arms.
- A patient in a hospital bed, too weak to help herself, calls out for a nurse. Her voice is weak, but her need is the strongest argument for care.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why does God seem to answer some desperate prayers but not others?
- Am I allowed to use my struggles and failures as a reason for God to help me?
- How do I know if my sense of spiritual poverty is genuine or just low self-esteem?
Leading a Discussion
This verse is the cry of someone who has no other hope. It invites us to examine what we rely on when we pray, our own goodness, our circumstances, or our acknowledged need.
Discussion questions
- What does David ask for in this verse? What does he say about himself?
- The phrase 'poor and needy' appears elsewhere in the Psalms. Read Psalm 40:17 and Psalm 34:6. How do those passages fill out the meaning?
- In what ways might 'poor and needy' describe a literal situation? In what ways might it describe a spiritual condition?
- Why does the psalmist think his poverty is a reason for God to answer? Does God have a special concern for the poor?
- Have you ever brought an argument like 'I am poor and needy' to God in prayer? What happened?
- How does this verse challenge the idea that we must be 'good enough' before God hears us?
- What would it mean for your prayer life to begin more often with honest need rather than with requests?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Psalms 10:14 | But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless. |
| Psalms 17:6 | I have called on you, for you will answer me, God. Turn your ear to me. Hear my speech. |
| Psalms 31:2 | Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me. |
| Psalms 34:6 | This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. |
| Psalms 40:17 | But I am poor and needy. May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Don’t delay, my God. |
| Psalms 72:12 | For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper. |
| Psalms 72:14 | He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight. |
| Psalms 102:1 | A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before Yahweh. Hear my prayer, Yahweh! Let my cry come to you. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
11 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke reads the plea "bow down thine ear" as a vivid human image: the psalmist is so crushed and weak that only by God leaning down can his faint cry be heard. He takes "poor and needy" in its most literal sense, meaning actual affliction and lack of life's necessities.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes notes that this psalm is rightly called both a prayer and a psalm, since it mixes petitions with praise. Its distinctive feature is that the prayers include reasons why they should be answered, and Barnes draws out the practical lesson: it is proper to present such reasons before God, not to inform Him, but to deepen our own sense of why we pray.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible notes that “Bow down thine ear” was a standard way of calling on God, and “hear me” means “answer me.” The psalmist grounds his plea on being afflicted and needy, claiming the specific promise that God helps people in that condition.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note highlights that David grounds his plea for God's attention not on his own righteousness but on his humble, desperate condition. Calling himself poor and needy, he appeals solely to God's mercy, trusting that the Lord hears those who have no other help.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill reads this verse as both David's literal plea while fleeing Saul and a type of Christ's own affliction. The phrase "bow down thine ear" pictures God's condescension in listening to the needy, a favour Christ as man and Mediator also experienced. David's confession of being poor and needy describes his real destitution and, spiritually, Christ's felt destitution when forsaken.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB notes that this prayer moves between urgent pleas for help and hopeful praise, driven by deep emotion. The writer shifts quickly from desperation to confidence, drawing on memory of past mercies. The presence of many phrases unique to David's Psalms strongly points to David as the author.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch observes that Psalm 86 is more a liturgical composition than a purely poetic one, built from earlier Davidic models rather than being directly from David. Its most distinctive feature is the use of the divine name Adonai seven times, marking an early Adonajic style that imitates the earlier Elohimic psalms.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange sees this psalm as a late composite work, built from familiar phrases found in the Law, Psalms, and Prophets, yet displaying some original treatment. He argues that the claim to be holy refers to the covenant relationship, not personal piety, and that the prayer for an undivided heart asks God to unite all the psalmist's powers toward one goal.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry notes that this psalm is strikingly plain in language compared to others, lacking poetic flair. He argues this is fitting, because prayer is not meant to display wit. Every part should be directed to God, with the soul lifted up to him in faith and holy desire.
Spurgeon: Treasury of David Baptist 1869
Spurgeon highlights the striking boldness of faith: David calls on Jehovah by His loftiest name yet asks for the most tender condescension, pleading that God bow down to his littleness. The only argument he offers is his own poverty and need, for misery, Spurgeon says, is mercy's master argument.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Before him - As his harbinger. He shall fulfil all righteousness, he shall satisfy the righteousness of God, and shall advance righteousness and holiness among men. Set us - Shall cause us to walk in those righteous ways wherein he walketh.