Psalm 6

The Passion Translation

^[a] A Cry for Healing

For the Pure and Shining One

A song for stringed instruments, for the new day^[b] by King David

How Long?

6 Yahweh, don’t condemn me.
    Don’t punish me in your fiery anger.^[c]
²Please deal gently with me, Yahweh;
    show me mercy, for I’m sick and frail and weak.
    Heal me, Yahweh, for I’m falling apart.^[d]
³My soul is so troubled; but you,
    Yahweh—how long?^[e]

Return to Me

⁴Yahweh, turn to me and rescue my life
because I know your faithful love will never fail me.
⁵In the darkness of death who remembers your name in worship?
How could I bring you praise if I’m buried in a tomb?^[f]

Extreme Anguish

⁶I’m worn out with my weeping and groaning.
    Night after night I soak my pillow with tears,^[g]
    and flood my bed with weeping.
⁷My eyes of faith^[h] won’t focus anymore, for sorrow fills my heart.
    There are so many enemies who come against me!

He Heard My Cry

⁸Turn from me, all you troublemakers!^[i]
    For Yahweh has turned to hear the sound of my weeping.
⁹Yes! Yahweh my healer has heard all my pleading
    and has taken hold of my prayers^[j] and answered them all.
¹⁰Now it’s my enemies who have been shamed.
    Terror-stricken, they will turn back again,^[k]
    knowing the bitterness of sudden disgrace!

Footnotes

6 Psalm 6 is a part of the daily prayer ritual of religious Jews.
6 This is the Hebrew word sheminith. Although we cannot be certain, many scholars believe it to mean “eighth.” It could represent a harp with eight strings, an octave, the eighth division of singers, the eighth day, or the eighth month. Eight is the biblical number of a new beginning, a new day. Jewish rabbis have taught that the number eight is the number of the future messianic age when Messiah comes and makes all things new.
6:1 David implied that he had sinned and needed forgiveness. This is the first of seven penitential psalms (32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143).
6:2 Or “my bones are shaking.” Bones are often used metaphorically for our inner being.
6:3 The Hebrew ends abruptly, with sudden silence and broken syntax. Words failed David, too broken to finish his sentence. This sudden silence is a figure of speech called aposiopesis.
6:5 Or “Sheol,” the realm of the dead. This is the first psalm to mention the grave (or Sheol). It is depicted in the poetic literature of the Hebrews as a vast wasteland, a stronghold of darkness, and a beast of prey.
6:6 Or “I cause my bed to swim with tears.” Our beds are frequently the washing place where the sheep are sheared (Song. 4:2). The bed was the place of David’s sin; it became the place of his weeping. Even as Adam sinned in a garden, Jesus wept in a garden over Adam’s sin.
6:7 The Hebrew is singular, “My eye;” a likely metaphor for the eye of his heart. David’s faith was growing weak.
6:8 See Ps. 5:5; Matt. 7:23.
6:9 Or “accepted my prayers.” The Hebrew word can mean “to grasp,” “to lay hold of,” “to marry,” or, figuratively, “to accept.”
6:10 See Pss. 9:18; 31:8.