Psalms 6:2-10

Context

6:2 Have mercy on me,¹ Lord, for I am frail!

Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking!²

6:3 I am absolutely terrified,³

and you, Lord – how long will this continue?⁴

6:4 Relent, Lord, rescue me!⁵

Deliver me because of your faithfulness!⁶

6:5 For no one remembers you in the realm of death,⁷

In Sheol who gives you thanks?⁸

6:6 I am exhausted as I groan;

all night long I drench my bed in tears;⁹

my tears saturate the cushion beneath me.¹⁰

6:7 My eyes¹¹ grow dim¹² from suffering;

they grow weak¹³ because of all my enemies.¹⁴

6:8 Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly,¹⁵

for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping!¹⁶

6:9 The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy;

the Lord has accepted¹⁷ my prayer.

6:10 May all my enemies be humiliated¹⁸ and absolutely terrified!¹⁹

May they turn back and be suddenly humiliated!

[6:2] ¹tn Or “show me favor.”

[6:2] ²tn Normally the verb בָּהַל (bahal) refers to an emotional response and means “tremble with fear, be terrified” (see vv. 3, 10). Perhaps here the “bones” are viewed as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. However, the verb may describe one of the effects of his physical ailment, perhaps a fever. In Ezek 7:27 the verb describes how the hands of the people will shake with fear when they experience the horrors of divine judgment.

[6:3] ³tn Heb “my being is very terrified.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:3] ⁴tn Heb “and you, Lord, how long?” The suffering psalmist speaks in broken syntax. He addresses God, but then simply cries out with a brief, but poignant, question: How long will this (= his suffering) continue?

[6:4] ⁵tn Heb “my being,” or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:4] ⁶sn Deliver me because of your faithfulness. Though the psalmist is experiencing divine discipline, he realizes that God has made a commitment to him in the past, so he appeals to God’s faithfulness in his request for help.

[6:5] ⁷tn Heb “for there is not in death your remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זֵכֶר (zekher, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 30:4; 97:12. “Death” here refers to the realm of death where the dead reside. See the reference to Sheol in the next line.

[6:5] ⁸tn The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[6:6] ⁹tn Heb “I cause to swim through all the night my bed.”

[6:6] ¹⁰tn Heb “with my tears my bed I flood/melt.”

[6:7] ¹¹tn The Hebrew text has the singular “eye” here.

[6:7] ¹²tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”

[6:7] ¹³tn Or perhaps, “grow old.”

[6:7] ¹⁴sn In his weakened condition the psalmist is vulnerable to the taunts and threats of his enemies.

[6:8] ¹⁵tn Heb “all [you] workers of wickedness.” See Ps 5:5.

[6:8] ¹⁶sn 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.

[6:9] ¹⁷tn 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.

[6:10] ¹⁸tn 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.

[6:10] ¹⁹tn 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.