Psalms 6

LORD, please do not correct me while you are angry. Do not punish me while your anger burns hot.

1O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

2Be kind to me, LORD, because I have no strength left. Heal me, LORD, because my bones are in agony.

2Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.

Note"My bones are in agony" is a Hebrew way of saying the distress has reached the deepest, most solid part of a person. The bones stand for the whole physical frame, so the phrase covers sickness, exhaustion and terror together rather than naming one illness.

3My soul is also greatly terrified. But you, LORD, how long will this go on?

3My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?

Note"Soul" here translates the Hebrew *nephesh*, which means the living self (a person's life, breath and whole being), not an immaterial part housed inside a body. In verse 4, "rescue my life" translates the same word. The question in the Hebrew of this verse is left unfinished: literally "And you, LORD… how long?" The speaker breaks off without saying how long what; translations supply the missing words.

4Turn back to me, LORD, and rescue my life. Save me because of your faithful love.

4Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.

Note"Turn back to me" pictures God as having turned away, so that the request is for his attention to swing round again. "Faithful love" translates *hesed*, the loyalty owed within a binding relationship, steady, committed kindness rather than a passing feeling.

5Dead people do not speak your name. Among the dead, who will give you thanks?

5For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

NoteThe King James "the grave" translates *Sheol*, the Hebrew name for the place all the dead go, pictured as a dim silent region below the earth. The point being made is a practical one within that picture: the dead take no part in the worship of the living, so a dead worshiper is one voice God loses.

6I am worn out from groaning. All night long my weeping floods my bed; my tears soak the couch I lie on.

6I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.

NoteFlooding a bed with tears is deliberate overstatement, a standard move in Hebrew laments the way "I cried my eyes out" is in English. The "couch" is not furniture for sitting but the same sleeping place named in the first half of the line.

7My eyes are worn out from grief. They grow dim because of all the people who fight against me.

7Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.

NoteEyes wearing out or growing dim is an idiom for the physical toll of prolonged weeping and for hope failing, the King James "waxeth old" means grows weak, not grows aged.

8Get away from me, all of you who do evil, because the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.

8Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.

9The LORD has heard my cry for help. The LORD accepts my prayer.

9The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer.

10Let all my enemies be put to shame and deeply shaken. Let them turn back, suddenly disgraced.

10Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.

NoteShame in this culture is public standing lost in front of others, not a private feeling of guilt. "Turn back" is the same verb used of God in verse 4, here describing enemies retreating. The Hebrew verb forms are ambiguous and can be read either as a wish, "let them be ashamed", or as a confident prediction, "they will be ashamed"; translations divide over which is meant.