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PSALM 85

To him that presides; a Psalm for the sons of Korah.

1. jehovah, you have been favourable to your land; you have brought back the captivity of Jacob.
2. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people; you have covered all their sins. Selah.
3. You have taken away all your anger; you have turned from the heat of your anger.
4. Turn us, O god of our salvation! and withdraw your indignation from us.
5. Will you be angry with us for ever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6. Will you not again revive us; that your people may rejoice in you?
7. Show us your mercy, O jehovah, and grant us your salvation.
8. I will hear what god jehovah will speak: truly, he will speak peace to his people, and to his saints; and they shall not turn again to folly.
9. Surely, his salvation is near to them that fear him; so that glory shall dwell in our land.
10. Mercy and truth have met together; justice and peace have kissed each other.
11. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven.
12. Yea, jehovah shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
13. Justice shall go before him, and shall set us in the way of his steps.

Verse 6. Will you not again revive us; that your people may rejoice in you? The lord in the Word is said to be alone alive, and is called the living jehovah. Wherefore also they are said to be vivified or revived who receive faith in him: on the other hand they who do not receive faith in him are said to be dead. AC 290.

Verse 8. He will speak peace to his people, and to his saints; and they shall not turn again to folly. By jehovah speaking peace to his people and to his saints, is signified that he will teach and give conjunction with himself, by the conjunction of good and of truth with them; by peace is signified each conjunction; by people are signified those who are in truths grounded in good, and by saints those who are in good by truths; that evil grounded in what is false, and what is false grounded in evil does not appertain to thorn, is signified by their not returning to folly; each conjunction is further described by mercy and justice meeting together, and justice and peace kissing each other; mercy in this case signifies removal from falses, whence they have truths, and justice signifies removal from evils whence they have goods; hence it is evident what is signified by justice and peace kissing each other. AE 365.

Verse 10. Mercy and truth have met together, justice and peace have kissed each other. Celestial men, when they are reformed and regenerated, are introduced to love to the lord by charity towards their neighbour; hence it is evident that by mercy from the lord they understood nothing else but the reception of an influx of love towards him, and by truth an influx of charity towards the neighbour thence derived; but it is otherwise with the spiritual, who, when they are reformed and regenerated, are introduced by things that are of faith to charity towards their neighbour; wherefore when these latter are treated of, by mercy from the lord is meant an influx of charity towards their neighbour, and by truth an influx of faith. Hence it may be manifest what the most ancient people understood by mercy and truth, which are so often mentioned in the Word. AC 3122.

That by kissing each other is signified presence and conjunction, is manifest from the signification of coming near, as denoting presence, and from the signification of kissing as denoting conjunction from affection; that this is signified by kissing, is manifest also from the following passage in the Word, "Serve jehovah in fear, and kiss the son, lest he be angry;" Psalm 51:12; speaking of the lord, whose Divine Human Principle is the Son; to kiss him is to be conjoined to him by faith grounded in love. AC 3574.

Inasmuch as the good of love and the truth of faith are in the closest conjunction, and one is not given without the other, therefore this form of speaking was customary amongst the ancients, because it was known to them that the good of love was inseparable from the truth of faith, and this being the case, those two principles are frequently in the Word spoken of conjointly. AC 6180.

Verse 11. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven. There are no others who are called just in the Word, but those who from the lord are in the good of charity, for the lord alone is just, because alone justice, therefore man, so much as he receives of good from the lord, that is, so much of the lord as he has belonging to him, and according to its quality, so far he is just and justified. The good of charity towards the neighbour is exterior good, which is signified by just, and the good of love to the lord is interior good, which is signified by innocence. AC 9263.