Psalm 85:3

Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

85:1-7 The sense of present afflictions should not do away the remembrance of former mercies. The favour of God is the fountain of happiness to nations, as well as to particular persons. When God forgives sin, he covers it; and when he covers the sin of his people, he covers it all. See what the pardon of sin is. In compassion to us, when Christ our Intercessor has stood before thee, thou hast turned away thine anger. When we are reconciled to God, then, and not till then, we may expect the comfort of his being reconciled to us. He shows mercy to those to whom he grants salvation; for salvation is of mere mercy. The Lord's people may expect sharp and tedious afflictions when they commit sin; but when they return to him with humble prayer, he will make them again to rejoice in him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thou hast taken away all thy wrath - That is, formerly; on the occasion referred to. Thou didst so deal with thy people as to make it evident that thou didst cherish no anger or displeasure against them.

Thou hast turned thyself ... - Margin, "thine anger from waxing hot." Literally, Thou didst turn from the heat of thine anger. His indignation was withdrawn, and he was again at peace with them. It is this fact, drawn from the former history of the people, which constitutes the basis of the appeal which follows.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. To turn from the "fierceness," implies that He was reconcilable, though

Matthew Poole's Commentary

All thy wrath; those calamities which were the effects of thy just wrath conceived against us.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou hast taken away all thy wrath,.... Or "gathered" (n) it; sin occasions wrath, and the people of God are as deserving of it as others; but the Lord has gathered it up, and poured it forth upon his Son, and their surety; hence nothing of this kind shall ever fall upon them, either here or hereafter; and it is taken away from them, so as to have no sense, apprehension, or conscience of it, which before the law had wrought in them, when pardon is applied unto them, which is what is here meant; see Isaiah 12:1,

thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger; the anger of God is very fierce against sin and sinners; it is poured forth like fire, and there is no abiding it; but, with respect to the Lord's people, it is pacified by the death of his Son; or he is pacified towards them for all that they have done, for the sake of his righteousness and sacrifice; and which appears to them when he manifests his love and pardoning grace to their souls; see Ezekiel 16:63.

(n) "collegisti", Montanus, Gejerus, Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the {c} fierceness of thine anger.

(c) Not only in withdrawing your rod, but in forgiving sins, and in touching our hearts to confess them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. Thou hast taken away] Lit. withdrawn, or drawn in, the wrath which was let loose against us.

from the fierceness of thine anger] Poured out upon Israel for its sin. See Jeremiah 30:24; Lamentations 1:12; Lamentations 4:11. Cp. Exodus 32:12.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Thou hast taken away all thy wrath. Forgiveness of sins implies the cessation of wrath, though it does not necessarily imply the cessation of punishment. Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. This expresses the meaning better than the marginal rendering. Psalm 85:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The poet first of all looks back into the past, so rich in tokens of favour. The six perfects are a remembrance of former events, since nothing precedes to modify them. Certainly that which has just been experienced might also be intended; but then, as Hitzig supposes, Psalm 85:5-8 would be the petition that preceded it, and Psalm 85:9 would go back to the turning-point of the answering of the request - a retrograde movement which is less probable than that in shuwbeenuw, Psalm 85:5, we have a transition to the petition for a renewal of previously manifested favour. (שׁבית) שבּ שׁבוּת, here said of a cessation of a national judgment, seems to be meant literally, not figuratively (vid., Psalm 14:7). רצה, with the accusative, to have and to show pleasure in any one, as in the likewise Korahitic lamentation- Psalm 44:4, cf. Psalm 147:11. In Psalm 85:3 sin is conceived of as a burden of the conscience; in Psalm 85:3 as a blood-stain. The music strikes up in the middle of the strophe in the sense of the "blessed" in Psalm 32:1. In Psalm 85:4 God's עברה (i.e., unrestrained wrath) appears as an emanation; He draws it back to Himself (אסף as in Joel 3:15, Psalm 104:29; 1 Samuel 14:19) when He ceases to be angry; in Psalm 85:4, on the other hand, the fierce anger is conceived of as an active manifestation on the part of God which ceases when He turns round (השׁיב, Hiph. as inwardly transitive as in Ezekiel 14:6; Ezekiel 39:25; cf. the Kal in Exodus 32:12), i.e., gives the opposite turn to His manifestation.