Psalms 86King James Version

A prayer psalm of David in Book 3, a collection otherwise entirely of Korah and Asaph. He is poor and needy; he is holy (set apart); he lifts his soul to God daily. The psalm is woven almost entirely of phrases borrowed from other psalms, creating a mosaic of prior petition. The central declaration stands out: 'Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.' Among all gods there is none like thee.

Prayer built from the language of prior prayers is not plagiarism but participation: the individual draws on the community's accumulated words when their own run out.

verse: "Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee." This verse became the basis of the Christian doctrine of divine readiness to forgive.

Superscription: 'A Prayer of David.' One of five explicitly labeled 'prayer' psalms. The setting is unspecified; the prayer's composite nature suggests liturgical rather than historical use. David's lone psalm in the Asaph-Korah Book 3 stands out as a personal prayer amidst communal poetry.

David as the poor, needy, and devoted petitioner; God addressed with multiple titles; the proud violent men who seek David's soul; all nations who will come to worship; the enemies who will be shamed.

Psalm 86 is the only psalm in Book 3 attributed to David and is categorized as a 'Prayer of David' (one of five: 17, 86, 90, 102, 142). Scholars have identified up to twenty allusions to other psalms in its eighteen verses. This density of citation makes it a model of how scripture interprets scripture through prayer.

For when you have no original words and you need to borrow someone else's. This psalm is exactly that: assembled from the treasury of prior prayer.