Why read Psalm 86?
Psalm 86 celebrates belonging to God's people. Its description of Zion as a meeting place for peoples invites joy in shared faith rather than isolation.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
«Zion’s foundation is on the holy mountains...» — this is how Psalm 86 begins, a work of 6 verses from the 12th Kathisma. The Psalter is read in the Orthodox Church at every service, and this psalm has its place in the order of prayer.
The text of Psalm 86
1. Zion’s foundation is on the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
2. Glorious things have been spoken of you, city of God.
3. I will remember Rahab and Babylon among those who know me; and behold the foreigners, Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians — they were born there.
4. A man will call Zion mother, and a man was born in it; the Most High Himself established it.
5. The Lord will recount in the book of the peoples and their leaders who were born in it.
6. For in You is the dwelling of all who rejoice.
When Psalm 86 is read
- It belongs to the 12th Kathisma — the psalms are read in full within the cycle of kathismata, at Matins and Vespers.
- At the end of each psalm, tradition adds: «Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.».
Adjacent psalms
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
