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Psalm 6:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 6:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 6[a]
Evening Prayer for God’s Mercy
1 For the director.[b] With stringed instruments. “Upon the eighth.” A psalm of David.
2 O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or punish me in your wrath.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am tottering;
help me, O Lord, for my body is in agony.[c]
Footnotes
- Psalm 6:1 This is the first of the so-called Penitential Psalms (6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143), a designation for psalms suitable for expressing repentance that goes back to the sixth century A.D. In affliction, the psalmist invokes the divine mercy, begs to be saved from death, confesses his wretchedness, and expresses faith in his own deliverance and his enemies’ total abasement.
- Psalm 6:1 For the director: these words are thought to be a musical or liturgical notation. Upon the eighth: probably a musical term referring to an eight-stringed instrument.
- Psalm 6:3 Body is in agony: literally, “bones are shaken.”
