Psalm 85:2

Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Forgiven.—Rather, taken away. (See Psalm 32:1.)

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 forgiven the iniquity of thy people - That is, These calamities came upon them in consequence of their sins, and thou hast dealt with them as if those sins were forgiven. The fact that the tokens of his anger bad passed away, and that his judgments were withdrawn, seemed to prove that their sins had been forgiven. The same form of expression used here - with the same words in Hebrew - occurs in Psalm 32:5. See the notes at that passage. The language suggests the idea of an atonement. Literally, "Thou hast lifted up - or borne - the iniquity of thy people."

Thou hast covered all their sin - So that it is hidden; and therefore thou dost treat them as if they were righteous, or as if there were no sin. The idea of covering is that expressed in the Hebrew word, which is commonly rendered "atonement" - כפר kâphar - to cover; to cover over; then, to cover over sin; to forgive. The idea suggested in this verse is, that when God withdraws the tokens of his displeasure, we may hope that he has pardoned the sin which was the cause of his anger.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2, 3. (Compare Ps 32:1-5).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

So as not to impute it to them, or to continue the punishment which thou didst inflict upon them for it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people,.... Took it from them, and laid it on Christ, who has bore it, and took it away, so as it shall never return more to their destruction; and by the application of his blood it is taken away from their own consciences; for this denotes the manifestation and discovery of forgiveness to themselves; it is a branch of redemption, and is in consequence of it; and is a fruit of the free favour and good will of God through Christ; and it only belongs to the Lord's special people, the people he has taken into covenant with him, and for whose iniquity Christ was stricken:

thou hast covered all their sin; this is but another phrase for forgiveness, see Psalm 32:1, and this is done by the blood and righteousness, and propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, the antitypical mercy seat, the covering of the law and its transgressions, and the people of God from its curse and condemnation; whose sins are so covered by Christ, as not to be seen by the eye of avenging justice, even all of them, not one remains uncovered.

Selah. See Gill on Psalm 3:2.

Geneva Study Bible

Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast {b} covered all their sin. Selah.

(b) You have buried them that they will not come into judgment.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. The Heb. words describe sin (1) as depravity or moral distortion; (2) as a wandering from the way, or missing the mark; and forgiveness (1) as the removal of a burden, (2) as the covering of the offence, which would otherwise meet the eye of the judge and call for punishment. Cp. Psalm 32:1-2; Psalm 32:5.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; thou hast covered all their sin. God's remission of punishment, and restoration of his people to favour, was a full indication that he had "forgiven their iniquity" and "covered their sins." This was so vast a boon, that a pause for devout acknowledgment and silent adoration seemed fitting. Hence the "selah," which is at the end of the second verse, not of the first, as Hengstenberg states. Psalm 85:2

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.