Psalms 6:6-10

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 10  and absolutely terrified! 11 

May they turn back and be suddenly humiliated!


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

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

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

tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”

tn Or perhaps, “grow old.”

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

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

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.

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.

10 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.

11 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.