Text -- Psalms 6:6-10 (NET)

6:6 I am exhausted as I groan; all night long I drench my bed in tears; my tears saturate the cushion beneath me. 6:7 My eyes grow dim from suffering; they grow weak because of all my enemies. 6:8 Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping! 6:9 The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy; the Lord has accepted my prayer. 6:10 May all my enemies be humiliated and absolutely terrified! May they turn back and be suddenly humiliated!

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 6:6

¹ tn Heb “I cause to swim through all the night my bed.”

² tn Heb “with my tears my bed I flood/melt.”

NET Notes: Psa 6:7

¹ tn The Hebrew text has the singular “eye” here.

² tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”

³ tn Or perhaps, “grow old.”

⁴ sn In his weakened condition the psalmist is vulnerable to the taunts and threats of his enemies.

NET Notes: Psa 6:8

¹ tn Heb “all [you] workers of wickedness.” See Ps 5:5.

² sn The Lord has heard. The psalmist’s mood abruptly changes because the Lord responded positively to the lament and petition of vv. 1-7 and promised him deliverance.

NET Notes: Psa 6:9

¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is probably a preterite here; it is parallel to a perfect and refers to the fact that the Lord has responded favorably to the psalmist’s request.

NET Notes: Psa 6:10

¹ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist concludes his prayer with an imprecation, calling judgment down on his enemies.

² tn Heb “and may they be very terrified.” The psalmist uses the same expression in v. 3 to describe the terror he was experiencing. Now he asks the Lord to turn the tables and cause his enemies to know what absolute terror feels like.