An interpretation of Psalm 85:8-13 needs first to find a context
in the whole of Psalm 85. The psalm is a prayer in the midst of
crisis for the ancient faith community. They prayed for joy, joy
that can come from God's presence in the midst of the community.
It is divided into three parts: Most commentators understand the
first three verses in terms of liberation from exile.
Accordingly, they place the psalm in a post-exilic setting in
which the community is struggling after the return. We could
think of the era of Ezra and Nehemiah and understand that the
psalm looks back to the return from exile. The phrase "restored
the fortunes" in verse 1 is at times used to describe ancient
Israel's return from exile (for example, cf. Jeremiah 30-33),
but the phrase is not limited to that context. Rather, it can be
adapted, so both this phrase and the psalm are applicable to a
variety of settings of trouble and woe. The plea is for God to
restore the worshiping community in the way verses 1-3 remember.
Our focus is the