The parallel clauses here make the word mercy, which is hesed, equal to or very close to the word salvation. So His salvation is merciful. It is part of His covenant obligation to give us salvation. We can find this also in chapter 89, verse 2 and also Psalm 100:5, which we will get to. But there it is parallel to faithfulness. So His faithfulness is an act of love, or act of hesed. In Psalm 103:17, the parallel term is righteousness. And in other places (for some reason I did not put down a citation here) but the parallel is to truth. And the Hebrew word for truth has intimations of reliability or loyalty or trustworthiness. I mean, you trust a person who tells you the truth, right? That person is reliable.
