Psalm 86: Overview

Psalm 86 is one that at first glance at least, as St Alphonsus Liguori commented, "is as obscure as it is short."

He also pointed out though, that it can only be understood if we take Jerusalem as a figure of the Church, and of heaven:

This psalm is consecrated to the praise of Jerusalem, this glorious city that God had chosen for his dwelling-place. And since Jerusalem is a figure of the Church, the Fathers and the interpreters refer unanimously this psalm to the Catholic Church; built upon the holy mountains, that is, upon the apostles, as St. Jerome, St. Augustine, Theodoret, Euthymius, explain, and as one may infer from these words of St. Paul: Superadificati super fundamentum Apostolum. Built upon the foundation of the apostles (Eph, ii. 20)...

Psalm 86: The text

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Filiis Core. Psalmus cantici.	For the sons of Core, a psalm of a canticle.

Fundaménta eius in móntibus sanctis: * díligit Dóminus portas Sion super ómnia tabernácula Iacob	The foundations thereof are the holy mountains: The Lord loves the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob.
Gloriósa dicta sunt de te, * cívitas Dei.	Glorious things are said of you, O city of God.
Memor ero Rahab, et Babylónis * sciéntium me.	I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me.
Ecce alienígenæ, et Tyrus, et pópulus Æthíopum, * hi fuérunt illic.	Behold the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there.
Numquid Sion dicet: † Homo, et homo natus est in ea: * et ipse fundávit eam Altíssimus?	Shall not Sion say: This man and that man is born in her? And the Highest himself has founded her.
Dóminus narrábit in scriptúris populórum, et príncipum: * horum, qui fuérunt in ea.	The Lord shall tell in his writings of peoples and of princes, of them that have been in her.
Sicut lætántium ómnium: * habitátio est in te.	The dwelling in you is as it were of all rejoicing.

Glória Patri, et Fílio, * et Spirítui Sancto.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost.
Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, * et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.	As it was in the beginning, is now, * and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Scriptural ad Liturgical uses

Although Psalm 86 is only referred to directly once in the New Testament (in Galatians 4), it features at Matins for many of the major feasts of the year, as well as in th Commons for the Dedication of a Church and female saints.  And that Galatians reference, to the idea that  as the heavenly Jerusalem gives birth to us, and is thus our mother surely explains its frequent usage!

NT references	Gal 4:26 (v5)
RB cursus	Friday Matins
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	Epiphany, Corpus Christi, Transfiguration, BVM, Common of Virgins; Dedication of a church; Little Office of Our Lady Matins
Roman pre 1911	Friday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Friday Sext. 1970: Lauds Thursday wk 3
Mass propers (EF)	PP5: GR

The Fathers on Psalm 86

In the Benedictine Office, the psalm is the second of Friday Matins, and this usage can perhaps be linked to the focus on Friday as remembrance of Christ's Passion, which reopens to us the way to heaven, as St Augustine's commentary on the psalm suggests:

The Psalm which has just been sung is short, if we look to the number of its words, but of deep interest in its thoughts.. ..The subject of song and praise in that Psalm is a city, whose citizens are we, as far as we are Christians: whence we are absent, as long as we are mortal: whither we are tending: through whose approaches, undiscoverable among the brakes and thorns that entangle them, the Sovereign of the city made Himself a path for us to reach it. 

Walking thus in Christ, and pilgrims till we arrive, and sighing as we long for a certain ineffable repose that dwells within that city, a repose of which it is promised, that the eye of man has never seen such, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into his heart to conceive; let us chant the song of a longing heart: for he who truly longs, thus sings within his soul, though his tongue be silent: he who does not, however he may resound in human ears, is voiceless to God. See what ardent lovers of that city were they by whom these words were composed, by whom they have been handed down to us; with how deep a feeling were they sung by those!

 A feeling that the love of that city created in them: that love the Spirit of God inspired; the love of God, he says, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Fervent with this Spirit then, let us listen to what is said of that city.

St Cassiodorus' commentary provides some insights on the Patristic interpretation of the title of the psalm:

For the sons of Core, a psalm of a canticle. To refresh our memories let us briefly remind ourselves what has already often been stated; there seems little point in reciting what has been effaced from our minds. The sons of Core signify faithful Christians to whom the prophet proclaims the city of God, so that their longing for this great glory may be enhanced.

Next comes: A psalm of a canticle, to raise us from the tents of this world to an understanding of the heavenly city. For the psalm sounds forth from the upper parts, and reminds us to ponder heavenly things and to rejoice in them with songs of salvation.

This is a short psalm, but it is clearly divided by two diapsalms. Mindful of our stated purpose, we explain the divisions by indicating the limits of each section. In the first part, the prophet speaks to the faithful, proclaiming the heavenly city. In the second, the Lord Saviour by citation of different names announces that this city will come to believe, and in tones of rebuke asks the synagogue why she has not known God when the devoted faith of the Gentiles believed in Him. In the third part, the prophet in a single verse touches on the blessedness of the age to come. Tnus the clear change of spokesman removes from us all the darkness of confusion. 

...How blessed is he who with the Lord's guidance reaches that city, where every thought is over­whelmed, and each and every desire transcended! As is the nature of that most sweet and untroubled state, such happiness is obtained there as is destroyed by no opposition. Grant, Lord, that what we cannot explain here in words we may behold there by Your gift. 

The Jerusalem which is still on earth and bears the stamp of that secret abode in heaven was praised in the second section; and rightly, for it is the visible home of such great virtues. In it the angel came down and stirred the pool to heal the sick and prefigure holy baptism. In it Silo at the Lord's command washed away the darkness of the blind man, and restored the gift of light to his condemned eyes. In it Christ's table, filled with heavenly delights, gave spiritual plenty to the apostles, and so that we should not be left unfed after that meal, the sacred chalice bestowed on us both communion and salvation. In it the hardest of stones revealed the footsteps of the holy Redeemer where He stood to be heard before Pilate His judge; in it the pillar witnesses the scourging of the Lord who was bound to it;" in it is seen the crown of thorns which we know was set on the Lord of salvation so that the spikes driven into the entire world could be nullified. In it is preserved the reed which struck the Lord's head to announce to all lands that He was the Beginning of creation. In it the cross of salva­tion and of glory hallowed that venerable place. In it remains the lance which pierced the Lord's side so that the healing which flowed from it might aid us. In it His tomb even today gives life to believers; in it the site of the resurrection raises the hearts of the faithful to heaven. There stands Sion, outstanding among mountains; there, as the disci­ples reclined in the dining-chamber with doors closed, the Saviour miraculously entered.There are too the other glories which that rich homeland won through the Lord's passion. Since Jerusalem gleams handsomely with so many miracles, and like the constellations pos­sesses a second heaven, who would presume to call it tiny when it is known to have filled the territories of the world with most holy faith? For it is there that the beliefs of the blessed feed the eyes of men.

Liturgical and scriptural uses of the psalm

NT references	Gal 4:26 (v5)
RB cursus	Friday Matins
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	Epiphany, Corpus Christi, Transfiguration, BVM, Common of Virgins; Dedication of a church; Little Office of Our Lady Matins
Roman pre 1911	Friday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Friday Sext  . 1970: Lauds Thursday wk 3
Mass propers (EF)	PP5, GR