Psalms 86:17 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me. Show me a token for good - עשה עמי אוה aseh immi oth "Make with me a sign." Fix the honourabie mark of thy name upon me, that I may be known to be thy servant. There seems to be an allusion here to the marking of a slave, to ascertain whose property he was. The Anglo-Saxon, "do with me a token in good.' Old Psalter: Do with me signe in gude. From tacn we have our word token, which signifies a sign, mark, or remembrancer of something beyond itself; a pledge that something, then specified, shall be done or given. Give me, from the influence of thy Spirit in my heart, a pledge that the blessings which I now ask shall be given in due time. But he wished for such a sign as his enemies might see; that they might know God to be his helper, and be confounded when they sought his destruction.

Commentary on the Bible, by Adam Clarke [1831].

Psalms 86:17

17 Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.