In the English of the King James Version, this psalm begins: "LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land".

[5] Alexander Maclaren posits that the setting of Psalm 85 corresponds to the description in the Book of Nehemiah in which only part of the Jewish nation had returned from the Babylonian captivity.

[9] The image of "Justice and Peace kissing" (per the KJV translation; Hebrew: צֶ֖דֶק וְשָׁל֣וֹם נָשָֽׁקוּ tseḏeq wə-šālōm nāšāqū) became a popular theme for artworks from the Middle Ages through the 18th century.

[11] The Midrash understands this interaction in a turbulent context, relating it to God taking counsel with His ministering angels about whether to create the first man.

In the Sephardic tradition, Psalm 85 is recited after Kaddish (Titkabel) during the afternoon service on Yom Kippur eve.

[19] The verse “Shew us, O Lord, thy mercy.” (Latin: “Óstende nobis, Dómine, misericórdiam tuam”) is said towards the end of the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar in the Tridentine Mass, also called the Extraordinary Form.

[21] Paul Gerhardt paraphrased Psalm 85 in a hymn, "Herr, der du vormals hast dein Land", which is part of the Protestant German hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch as EG 283.

Heinrich Schütz set a German metred version in the Becker Psalter, published in 1628, Herr, der du vormals gnädig warst (Lord, you who were merciful before), SWV 182.

[22] In verse 10 in the KJV, virtues are described as meeting: "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other", in erotic imagery,[23] which became a popular theme for artworks from the Middle Ages through the 18th century.

[10] These include paintings by Tiepolo, Lanfranco, Pompeo Batoni, Nicolas Prévost, and Laurent de La Hyre.

[27] The psalm has also been quoted in nonviolent movements, for example in a 1993 document of Catholic bishops in the United States, for its verse "for he will speak peace unto his people".