Psalms 6: Weeping Turned to Assurance
A night of tears that ends with God hearing David's cry.
This is the first of the penitential psalms, following Psalms 5, in which David asks the LORD not to rebuke him in anger but to heal his vexed bones and weary soul. He pictures himself flooding his bed with tears each night from grief and exhausted groaning.
O Yahweh! do not, in thine anger, correct me, nor, in thy wrath, chastise me.
Show me favour, O Yahweh, for languishing am I: Heal me, O Yahweh,—for dismayed are my bones:
Yea, my soul, is dismayed greatly, Thou, then, O Yahweh—how long?
Return, O Yahweh, deliver my soul, Save me, for the sake of thy lovingkindness;
For, in death, is no remembrance of thee,—In hades, who shall give thanks unto thee?
I am weary with my sighing, I flood, through the whole night, my couch,—With my tears, I cause, my bed, to dissolve:
My face, is all sunken with sorrow,—it hath aged, because of all mine adversaries.
Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity, for Yahweh hath heard the voice of my weeping:
Yahweh, hath heard my supplication, Yahweh, will receive, my prayer.
Let all my foes, turn pale and be greatly dismayed, Again let them turn pale in a moment.