Psalms 6:6-10

6:6 I am exhausted as I groan;

all night long I drench my bed in tears; ¹ 

my tears saturate the cushion beneath me. ² 

6:7 My eyes ³  grow dim ⁴  from suffering;

they grow weak ⁵  because of all my enemies. ⁶ 

6:8 Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly, ⁷ 

for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping! ⁸ 

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

the Lord has accepted ⁹  my prayer.

6:10 May all my enemies be humiliated ¹⁰  and absolutely terrified! ¹¹ 

May they turn back and be suddenly humiliated!

[6:6]  ¹ tn Heb “I cause to swim through all the night my bed.”

[6:6]  ² tn Heb “with my tears my bed I flood/melt.”

[6:7]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has the singular “eye” here.

[6:7]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”

[6:7]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps, “grow old.”

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

[6:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “all [you] workers of wickedness.” See Ps 5:5.

[6:8]  ⁸ 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.

[6:9]  ⁹ 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.

[6:10]  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.

[6:10]  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.