PSALM 6 COMME�TARYWritten and edited by Glenn Pease

PREFACE

My goal has been to collect the comments of those who add to our understanding of the Psalms.These comments are available to everyone, but I have brought them together in one place to savethe Bible student time in research. There is a great deal more, but this gives a good foundation tobuild on. If I quote anyone who does not wish to be quoted in this study they can let me know andI will remove their wisdom. My e-mail is glenn_p86@yahoo.com

I�TRODUCTIO�

1. Calvin, “The name of Song shows that David composed this psalm, in which he describes thepassionate workings of his grief in the time of his troubles after he had obtained deliverance fromthe evils which he deplores. What the kind of chastisement was of which he speaks is uncertain.Those who restrict it to bodily disease do not adduce in support of their opinion any argument ofsufficient weight. They insist on the word אמל, amal, which occurs in verse third, where he says,“I am weak,” which indeed signifies to be sick; but it is more probable that it is here usedmetaphorically. They allege that Hezekiah, after his recovery from sickness, sung in the samestrains as are here recorded, concerning death. But in Psalm 116, where no mention is made ofbodily disease, the same complaint is uttered by the Psalmist in the name of the whole Church.We can, indeed, gather from these words that the life of David was in the utmost danger, but itmay have been some other kind of affliction than bodily sickness under which he labored. Wemay, therefore, adopt this as the more certain interpretation, that he had been stricken by somesevere calamity, or that some punishment had been inflicted upon him, which presented to hisview on every side only the shadow of death. It ought also to be considered, that this psalm wasnot composed at the very time when he presented to God the prayers recorded in it; but that theprayers which he had meditated and uttered in the midst of his dangers and sadness were, afterhe had obtained respite, committed to writing. This explains why he joins the sorrow with whichhe certainly had struggled for a time with the joy which he afterward experienced.”

2. David Guzik, “Psalm 6 is known as the first of seven penitential psalms - songs of confessionand humility before God. It was a custom in the early church to sing these psalms on AshWednesday, the Wednesday before Easter.”

3. F. B. Meyer, “The first of the Penitential Psalms; the other six being Psalm 32, 38, 51, 102, 130,143. Sheminith is evidently a musical term, signifying the octave. The earlier verses of this Psalmare a wail; but it ends in a song. It is like a day of rain which clears at evening. The Psalm is fullof beautiful ejaculatory cries.”

4. “David was a man that was often exercised with sickness and troubles from enemies, and in allthe instances almost that we meet with in the Psalms of these his afflictions, we may observe theoutward occasions of trouble brought him under the suspicion of God's wrath and his owniniquity; so that he was seldom sick, or persecuted, but this called on the disquiet of conscience,and brought his sin to remembrance; as in this Psalm, which was made on the occasion of hissickness, as appears from verse eight, wherein he expresses the vexation of his soul under theapprehension of God's anger; all his other griefs running into this channel, as little brooks, losingthemselves in a great river, change their name and nature. He that at first was only concerned forhis sickness, is now wholly concerned with sorrow and smart under the fear and hazard of hissoul's condition; the like we may see in Psalms 38:1-22, and many places more. Richard Gilpin,1677.”

5. Warren Wiersbe, “In verses 1-5 David pleads for God not to rebuke him or to chasten him.God's chastening is not punishment. It builds our Christian character. Hebrews 12 talks aboutchastening, and the word used means "child training." It's the picture of a child learning how tobe a good athlete. God chastens us, but He does so in love. David was afraid that God was goingto chasten him in His hot displeasure (v. 1). But our God is a God of mercy and grace. Thisdoesn't mean, however, that we can minimize sin. This doesn't mean we should ever say, "Well,God is a forgiving God; therefore, I can do whatever I want to do, and He will forgive me." �o,David was saying, "Lord, I've sinned. I'm weary with my groaning. Forgive me. I have donewrong." And God does forgive those who confess their sins to Him. Sin is the Christian's worst possible experience. It's far worse than pain or suffering or evendeath itself. We are weak, and sometimes we fail. But let's never be afraid to come to our Fatherwith our appeal for forgiveness. The tragedy is that all around us, enemies are waiting for us tofall. They want to point at us and say, "See, that Christian failed." But we can come before theLord and ask Him for His forgiveness, and He will grant it to us. God will have mercy on us."Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:21).

We must never treat sin lightly. Certainly, no Christian should ever harbor sin. But when we dosin, we may lean on God's mercy and grace and confess our sin to a loving Father. One of thegreat encouragements of the Christian life is that God forgives and restores. Are you living withunconfessed sin? Avoid God's chastening. Confess your sin and ask for His forgiveness.”

TITLE For the director of music. With stringedinstruments. According to sheminith.[b] A psalm of David.

1. Jamison, “ upon Sheminith - the eighth - an instrument for the eighth key; or, more probably,the bass, as it is contrasted with Alamoth (the treble, Psa_46:1) in 1Ch_15:20, 1Ch_15:21. In deepaffliction the Psalmist appeals to God’s mercy for relief from chastisement, which otherwise mustdestroy him, and thus disable him for God’s service. Sure of a gracious answer, he triumphantlyrebukes his foes.”

2. Calvin, “With respect to the word eighth, as we have before said that נגינות, �eginoth, signifiesa musical instrument, I do not know whether it would be correct to say, that it was a harp of eightstrings. I am rather inclined to the opinion that it refers to the tune, and points out the particularkind of music to which the psalm was to be sung. However, in a matter so obscure and of so littleimportance I leave every one at liberty to form his own conjecture.” Calvin's editor, “ Sheminith,

or the eighth, “is thought to be the shrillest or loftiest note, as Alomoth is the lowest; of which see1 Chronicles 15:20, 21. But all this is only conjecture; and the Jews themselves have no certainknowledge of their ancient music, and of the signification of the terms belonging to it.” — Poole’s

Annotations.

3. Treasury of David, “itle. This Psalm is commonly known as the first of the PE�ITE�TIALPSALMS, (The other six are Psalms 32:1-11 38:1-22 51:1-19 102:1-7 Psalms 130:1-8 143:1-12)and certainly its language well becomes the lip of a penitent, for it expresses at once the sorrow,(Ps 6:3,6-7), the humiliation (Psalms 6:2,4), and the hatred of sin (Psalms 6:8), which are theunfailing marks of the contrite spirit when it turns to God. O Holy Spirit, beget in us the truerepentance which needeth not to be repented of. The title of this Psalm is "To the chief Musicianon �eginoth upon Sheminith (1 Chronicles 15:21 ), A Psalm of David," that is, to the chiefmusician with stringed instruments, upon the eighth, probably the octave. Some think it refers tothe bass or tenor key, which would certainly be well adapted to this mournful ode. But we are notable to understand these old musical terms, and even the term "Selah," still remainsuntranslated. This, however, should be no difficulty in our way. We probably lose but very littleby our ignorance, and it may serve to confirm our faith. It is a proof of the high antiquity of thesePsalms that they contain words, the meaning of which is lost even to the best scholars of theHebrew language. Surely these are but incidental (accidental I might almost say, if I did notbelieve them to be designed by God), proofs of their being, what they profess to be, the ancientwritings of King David of olden times.

Division. You will observe that the Psalm is readily divided into two parts. First, there is thePsalmist's plea in his great distress, reaching from the first to the end of the seventh verse. Thenyou have, from the eighth to the end, quite a different theme. The Psalmist has changed his note.He leaves the minor key, and betakes himself to more sublime strains. He tunes his note to thehigh key of confidence, and declares that God hath heard his prayer, and hath delivered him outof all his troubles.”

1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

1. David recognizes that he deserves rebuke and discipline, but he pleads that God would not doso in anger and wrath, for he, though a sinner, is still his child, and he loves the Lord with all hisheart. He pleads that he would be dealt with in love rather than wrath. Love still rebukes and

disciplines, but it is with mercy and a mildness that encourages hope rather than fear anddespair. Keil wrote, “David prays God to let him experience His loving-kindness and tendermercy in place of the punishment He has a right to inflict; for anguish of soul has alreadyreduced him to the extreme even of bodily sickness.”

1B. Barnes, “O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger - As if God was rebuking him by the afflictionwhich he was bringing upon him. This is the point on which the attention of the psalmist is nowfixed. He had been apparently contemplating his afflictions, and inquiring into their cause, andhe was led to the conclusion that it might be for his sins, and that his trials were to be interpretedas proof that God was angry with him. He speaks, therefore, of God as visiting him in his“anger,” and in his “hot displeasure,” and pleads with him that he would “not” thus rebuke andchasten him. The word “rebuke” here, like the word rendered “chasten,” properly refers to thereproof of an offender “by words,” but may also be used to denote the reproof which Godadministers by his providential dealings when he brings judgment upon anyone for his sins. Thisis the meaning here. The psalmist did not apprehend that God would openly “reprove” him forhis sins; but he regarded his dealings with him as such a reproof, and he pleads that the tokens ofthe reproof might be taken away. The whole language is that which indicates a connectionbetween suffering and sin; the feeling which we have when we are afflicted that it must be onaccount of our sins.

�either chasten me - A word denoting substantially the same thing; used here in the sense of“punishing.”

In thy hot displeasure - literally, “in thy heat.” We speak of anger or wrath as “burning,” or“consuming.” Compare Gen_39:19; �um_11:33; Deu_11:17; Psa_106:40; Job_19:11; Job_32:2-3;Psa_2:12.

2. Clarke, “O Lord, rebuke me not - This Psalm, Which is one of the seven Penitential Psalms, issupposed to have been written during some grievous disease with which David was afflicted afterhis transgression with Bath-sheba. It argues a deep consciousness of sin, and apprehension of thejust displeasure of God. It is the very language of a true penitent who is looking around for help,and who sees, as Bishop Horne well expresses it, “above, an angry God, ready to take vengeance;beneath, the fiery gulf, ready to receive him; without, a world in flames; within, the gnawingworm.” Of all these, none so dreadful as an angry God; his wrath he particularly deprecates. Godrebukes and chastens him, and he submits; but he prays not to be rebuked in anger, norchastened in hot displeasure. because he knows that these must bring him down to total and finaldestruction.

3. Gill, “ O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, The Lord sometimes rebukes or reproves men byhis spirit, and sometimes by his word and ministers, and sometimes by his providences, and thaton account of sin; to bring to a sense and acknowledgment of it; and particularly for remissnessin duty, or neglect of it; and for trusting in the creature, or in any outward enjoyment, boastingof it, and loving it too much; and these rebukes of his own people are always in love, and never inwrath, though they sometimes fear they are; see Psa_88:7, Lam_3:1; and therefore deprecatethem, as the psalmist here does; not the thing itself, but the manner in which it is apprehended itis done, or doing;

neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure; when God chastens his own people it is not in a way of

vindictive wrath, or as a proper punishment for sin; for this would be contrary to Christ'ssuretyship engagements and performances, and to the doctrine of his satisfaction for sin; it woulddraw a veil over it, and render it of none effect; it would be contrary to the justice of God topunish both surety and principal; and to the everlasting love of God to them, in which he alwaysrests, and from which there can be no separation; nor would they be dealt with as children; andbesides would be condemned with the world, and killed with the second death; whereas they willnot, though chastened of God, it is the chastening of a father, is very instructive to them, and isalways for their good, spiritual and eternal; is in measure, in judgment, and in love; and never infury and hot displeasure; but this being feared, is deprecated.

4. Henry, “These verses speak the language of a heart truly humbled under humblingprovidences, of a broken and contrite spirit under great afflictions, sent on purpose to awakenconscience and mortify corruption. Those heap up wrath who cry not when God binds them; butthose are getting ready for mercy who, under God's rebukes, sow in tears, as David does here.The representation he makes to God of his grievances. He pours out his complaint before him.Whither else should a child go with his complaints, but to his father?

The petitions which he offers up to God in this sorrowful and distressed state. 1. That which hedreads as the greatest evil is the anger of God. This was the wormwood and the gall in theaffliction and the misery; it was the infusion of this that made it indeed a bitter cup; andtherefore he prays (Psa_6:1), O Lord! rebuke me not in thy anger, though I have deserved it,neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. He does not pray, “Lord, rebuke me not; Lord, chastenme not;” for, as many as God loves he rebukes and chastens, as a father the son in whom he

delights. He can bear the rebuke and chastening well enough if God, at the same time, lift up thelight of his countenance upon him and by his Spirit make him to hear the joy and gladness of hisloving-kindness; the affliction of his body will be tolerable if he have but comfort in his soul. �omatter though sickness make his bones ache, if God's wrath do not make his heart ache;therefore his prayer is, “Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath; let me not lie under the impressions ofthat, for that will sink me.” Herein David was a type of Christ, whose sorest complaint, in hissufferings, was of the trouble of his soul and of the suspension of his Father's smiles. He never somuch as whispered a complaint of the rage of his enemies - “Why do they crucify me?” or theunkindness of his friends - “Why do they desert me?” But he cried with a loud voice, My God, my

God, why hast thou forsaken me? Let us thus deprecate the wrath of God more than any outwardtrouble whatsoever and always beware of treasuring up wrath against a day of affliction. 2. Thatwhich he desires as the greatest good, and which would be to him the restoration of all good, isthe favour and friendship of God. He prays, (1.) That God would pity him and look upon himwith compassion. He thinks himself very miserable, and misery is the proper object of mercy.Hence he prays, “Have mercy upon me, O Lord! in wrath remember mercy, and deal not with mein strict justice.”

5. K&D, “There is a chastisement which proceeds from God's love to the man as being pardonedand which is designed to purify or to prove him, and a chastisement which proceeds from God'swrath against the man as striving obstinately against, or as fallen away from, favour, and whichsatisfies divine justice. Psa_94:12; Psa_118:17; Pro_3:11. speak of this loving chastisement. Theman who should decline it, would act against his own salvation. Accordingly David, like Jeremiah(Jer_10:24), does not pray for the removal of the chastisement but of the chastisement in wrath,or what is the same thing, of the judgment proceeding from wrath [Zorngericht]. Wְּבַאְּפ and Wְת ֲחָמֽ ַּבֽstand in the middle, between ַאל and the verbs, for the sake of emphasis. Hengstenberg indeed

finds a different antithesis here. He says: “The contrast is not that of chastisement in love withchastisement in wrath, but that of loving rescue in contrast with chastisement, which alwaysproceeds from the principle of wrath.” If what is here meant is, that always when God chastens aman his wrath is the true and proper motive, it is an error, for the refutation of which one wholebook of the Bible, viz., the Book of Job, has been written. For there the friends think that God isangry with Job; but we know from the prologue that, so far from being angry with him, he on thecontrary glories in him. Here, in this Psalm, assuming David to be its author, and his adultery theoccasion of it, it is certainly quite otherwise. The chastisement under which David is brought low,has God's wrath as its motive: it is punitive chastisement and remains such, so long as Davidremains fallen from favour. But if in sincere penitence he again struggles through to favour, thenthe punitive becomes a loving chastisement: God's relationship to him becomes an essentiallydifferent relationship. The evil, which is the result of his sin and as such indeed originates in theprinciple of wrath, becomes the means of discipline and purifying which love employs, and this itis that he here implores for himself.”

6. Calvin, “The calamity which David now experienced had, perhaps, been inflicted by men, buthe wisely considers that he has to deal with God. Those persons are very unsuitably exercisedunder their afflictions who do not immediately take a near and a steady view of their sins, inorder thereby to produce the conviction that they have deserved the wrath of God. And yet wesee how thoughtless and insensible almost all men are on this subject; for while they cry out thatthey are afflicted and miserable, scarcely one among a hundred looks to the hand which strikes.From whatever quarter, therefore, our afflictions come, let us learn to turn our thoughts instantlyto God, and to acknowledge him as the Judge who summons us as guilty before his tribunal, sincewe, of our own accord, do not anticipate his judgment. But as men, when they are compelled tofeel that God is angry with them, often indulge in complaints full of impiety, rather than findfault with themselves and their own sins, it is to be particularly noticed that David does notsimply ascribe to God the afflictions under which he is now suffering, but acknowledges them tobe the just recompense of his sins. He does not take God to task as if he had been an enemy,treating him with cruelty without any just cause; but yielding to him the right of rebuking andchastening, he desires and prays only that bounds may be set to the punishment inflicted on him.By this he declares God to be a just Judge in taking vengeance on the sins of men. But as soon ashe has confessed that he is justly chastised, he earnestly beseeches God not to deal with him instrict justice, or according to the utmost rigour of the law. He does not altogether refusepunishment, for that would be unreasonable; and to be without it, he judged would be morehurtful than beneficial to him: but what he is afraid of is the wrath of God, which threatenssinners with ruin and perdition. To anger and indignation David tacitly opposes fatherly andgentle chastisement, and this last he was willing to bear. We have a similar contrast in the wordsof Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 10:24,) “O Lord,” says he, “correct me, but with judgment; not in thineanger.” God is, indeed, said to be angry with sinners whenever he inflicts punishment upon them,but not in the proper and strict sense, inasmuch as he not only mingles with it some of thesweetness of his grace to mitigate their sorrow, but also shows himself favorable to them, inmoderating their punishment, and in mercifully drawing back his hand. But, as we mustnecessarily be stricken with terror whenever he shows himself the avenger of wickedness, it is notwithout cause that David, according to the sense of the flesh, is afraid of his anger andindignation. The meaning therefore is this: I indeed confess, O Lord, that I deserve to bedestroyed and brought to nought; but as I would be unable to endure the severity of thy wrath,deal not with me according to my deserts, but rather pardon my sins, by which I have provokedthine anger against me. As often, then, as we are pressed down by adversity, let us learn, from theexample of David, to have recourse to this remedy, that we may be brought into a state of peace

with God; for it is not to be expected that it can be well or prosperous with us if we are notinterested in his favor. Whence it follows, that we shall never be without a load of evils, until heforgive us our sins.”

7. Spurgeon, “O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger. The Psalmist is very conscious that hedeserves to be rebuked, and he feels, moreover, that the rebuke in some form or other must comeupon him, if not for condemnation, yet for conviction and sanctification. "Corn is cleaned withwind, and the soul with chastenings." It were folly to pray against the golden hand whichenriches us by its blows. He does not ask that the rebuke may be totally withheld, for he mightthus lose a blessing in disguise; but, "Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger." If you remind me ofmy sin, it is good; but, oh, remind me not of it as one incensed against me, lest thy servant's heartshould sink in despair. Thus saith Jeremiah, "O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not inthine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing." I know that I must be chastened, and though I shrinkfrom the rod yet do I feel that it will be for my benefit; but, oh, my God, chasten me not in thyhot displeasure, lest the rod become a sword, and lest in smiting, thou shouldest also kill. So maywe pray that the chastisements of our gracious God, if they may not be entirely removed, may atleast be sweetened by the consciousness that they are "not in anger, but in his dear covenantlove."

8. When you approach the Lord with boldness,When you pray in Jesus' name,Just tell Him all the pain you're feeling—There's no need for fear or shame. —Fitzhugh

9. Treasury of David, “Verse 1. Rebuke me not. God hath two means by which he reduces hischildren to obedience; his word, by which he rebukes them; and his rod, by which he chastiseththem. The word precedes, admonishing them by his servants whom he hath sent in all ages to callsinners to repentance: of the which David himself saith, "Let the righteous rebuke me;" and as afather doth first rebuke his disordered child, so doth the Lord speak to them. But when menneglect the warnings of his word, then God as a good Father, takes up the rod and beats them.Our Saviour wakened the three disciples in the garden three times, but seeing that served not, hetold them that Judas and his band were coming to awaken them whom his own voice could notwaken. A. Symson, 1638. Verse 1. Jehovah, rebuke me not in thine anger, etc. He does not altogether refuse punishment, forthat would be unreasonable; and to be without it, he judged would be more hurtful thanbeneficial to him; but what he is afraid of is the wrath of God, which threatens sinners with ruinand perdition. To anger and indignation David tacitly opposes fatherly and gentle chastisement,and this last he was willing to bear. John Calvin, 1509-1564.

Verse 1. O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger.

The anger of the Lord? Oh, dreadful thought! How can a creature frail as man endureThe tempest of his wrath? Ah, whither flee To escape the punishment he welldeserves? Flee to the cross! the great atonement there Will shield the sinner, if hesupplicate For pardon with repentance true and deep, And faith that questions not.Then will the frown Of anger pass from off the face of God, Like a black tempestcloud that hides the sun. Anon.

Verse 1. Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, etc.; that is, do not lay upon me that thou hastthreatened in thy law; where anger is not put for the decree nor the execution, but for the

denouncing. So (Matthew 3:11, and so Hosea 11:9), "I will not execute the fierceness of mineanger," that is, I will not execute my wrath as I have declared it. Again, it is said, he executespunishment on the wicked; he declares it not only, but executeth it, so anger is put for theexecution of anger. Richard Stock, 1641.

Verse 1. �either chasten me in thine hot displeasure.

O keep up life and peace within, If I must feel thy chastening rod! Yet kill not me, butkill my sin, And let me know thou art my God. O give my soul some sweet foretaste Ofthat which I shall shortly see! Let faith and love cry to the last, "Come, Lord, I trustmyself with thee!" Richard Baxter, 1615-1691.”

2 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint; heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony.

1. David is hurting both mentally and physically, and we get an example here of how the mindaffects the body. He is struggling with guilt, and this, as well as other mental battles, can lead toproblems in the body. He feels his bones aching because of the stress in his mind. The Biblemakes it clear that you need to get the poison of guilt out of your mind or it will damage yourbody. Confession is not just good for the soul, it is good for the body. The body can be healedwhen sin is confessed and dealt with. Hold it in and refuse to confess and you become your ownworst enemy.

1B. Barnes. “Have mercy upon me, O Lord - That is, be gracious to me; or, show me compassion.This language may be used either in view of sin, of suffering, or of danger. It is a cry to God tointerpose, and remove some present source of trouble, and may be employed by one who feelsthat he is a sinner, or by one on a bed of pain, or by one surrounded by enemies, or by one at thepoint of death, or by one who is looking out with apprehension upon the eternal world. It iscommonly, indeed (compare Psa_51:1), a cry to God in view of sin, pleading for pardon andsalvation; but here it is a cry in view of trouble and danger, outward sorrow and mental anguish,that had overcome the strength of the sufferer and laid him on a bed of languishing. Seeintroduction to the psalm, Section 3.

For I am weak - The original word here, אמלל 'ûmlal, means properly to languish or droop, asplants do that are blighted, Isa_24:7, or as fields do in a drought, Isa_16:8, and is here applied toa sick person whose strength is withered and gone. The condition of such an one is beautifullycompared with a plant that withers for lack of moisture; and the word is used in this sense here,as referring to the psalmist himself when sick, as the result of his outward and mental sorrows.Such an effect has not been uncommon in the world. There have been numberless cases wheresorrow has prostrated the strength - as a plant withers - and has brought on languishing sickness.

O Lord, heal me - This is language which would be properly applied to a case of sickness, and

therefore, it is most natural to interpret it in this sense in this place. Compare Isa_19:22;Isa_30:26; Job_5:18; Gen_20:17; Psa_60:2; 2Ch_16:12; Deu_28:27.

For my bones are vexed - The word “vexed” we now commonly apply to mental trouble, andespecially the lighter sort of mental trouble - to irritate, to make angry by little provocations, toharass. It is used here, however, as is common in the Scriptures, in reference to torment or toanguish. The bones are the strength and framework of the body, and the psalmist means here tosay that the very source of his strength was gone; that that which supported him was prostrated;that his disease and sorrow had penetrated the most firm parts of his body. Language is oftenused in the Scriptures, also, as if the “bones” actually suffered pain, though it is now known thatthe bones, as such, are incapable of pain. And in the same manner, also, language is often used,though that use of the word is not found in the Scriptures, as if the “marrow” of the bones wereespecially sensitive, like a nerve, in accordance with what is the common and popular belief,though it is now known that the marrow of the bones is entirely insensible to suffering. Thedesign of the psalmist here is to say that he was crushed and afflicted in every part of his frame.

2. Clarke, “Have mercy - I have no merit. I deserve all I feel and all I fear.O Lord, heal me - �o earthly physician can cure my malady. Body and soul are both diseased,

and only God can help me.

I am weak - אמלל umlal. I am exceedingly weak; I cannot take nourishment, and my strength isexhausted.

My bones are vexed - The disease hath entered into my bones.

3. Gill, “Have mercy upon me, O Lord,.... He knew he was a sinner, both by original sin andactual transgression, which he was always ready to own; he knew that what he had donedeserved the wrath of God, even his hot displeasure; and that for such things it came upon thechildren of disobedience: he knew that there was mercy with God through Christ, and thereforehe flees unto it, pleads for it, and entreats the manifestation of forgiving love: he pleads no meritsof his own, nor makes any mention of former works of righteousness done by him, but throwshimself upon the mercy of God in Christ; giving this as a reason,

for I am weak; either in body, through some disease upon him; or in soul, being enfeebled by sin,and so without spiritual strength to do that which was good of himself; to exercise grace, andperform duty, and much less to keep the law of God, or make atonement for sin, or to bear thepunishment of it;

O Lord, heal me; meaning either his body, for God is the physician of the body, he wounds and heheals; so he healed Hezekiah and others; and he should be sought to in the first place by personsunder bodily disorders: or else his soul, as in Psa_41:4; sin is the disease of the soul, and a veryloathsome one it is, and is incurable but by the balm of Gilead, and the physician there; by theblood of Christ, and forgiveness through it; and the forgiveness of sin is the healing of thediseases of the soul, Psa_103:3;

for my bones are vexed; with strong pain; meaning his body, as Kimchi and Aben Ezra observe;because these are the foundation of the body, and the more principal parts of it: and this may be

understood of his grief and trouble of heart for his sins and transgressions, which is sometimesexpressed by the bones being broke, and by there being no rest in them, Psa_51:8.

4. Henry, “He complains of bodily pain and sickness (Psa_6:2): My bones are vexed. His bonesand his flesh, like Job's, were touched. Though David was a king, yet he was sick and pained; hisimperial crown could not keep his head from aching. Great men are men, and subject to thecommon calamities of human life. Though David was a stout man, a man of war from his youth,yet this could not secure him from distempers, which will soon make even the strong men to bowthemselves. Though David was a good man, yet neither could his goodness keep him in health.Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. Let this help to reconcile us to pain and sickness, that ithas been the lot of some of the best saints, and that we are directed and encouraged by theirexample to show before God our trouble in that case, who is for the body, and takes cognizance ofits ailments.”

5. Calvin, “Have mercy upon me. As he earnestly calls upon God to be merciful to him, it is fromthis the more clearly manifest, that by the terms anger and indignation he did not mean cruelty orundue severity, but only such judgment as God executes upon the reprobate, whom he does notspare in mercy as he does his own children. If he had complained of being unjustly and tooseverely punished, he would now have only added something to this effect: Restrain thyself, thatin punishing me thou mayest not exceed the measure of my offense. In betaking himself,therefore, to the mercy of God alone, he shows that he desires nothing else than not to be dealtwith according to strict justice, or as he deserved. In order to induce God to exercise his forgivingmercy towards him, he declares that he is ready to fail: Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah, for I am

weak As I have said before, he calls himself weak, not because he was sick, but because he wascast down and broken by what had now befallen him. And as we know that the design of God ininflicting punishment upon us, is to humble us; so, whenever we are subdued under his rod, thegate is opened for his mercy to come to us. Besides, since it is his peculiar office to heal thediseased to raise up the fallen, to support the weak, and, finally, to give life to the dead; this, ofitself, is a sufficient reason why we should seek his favor, that we are sinking under ourafflictions.After David has protested that he placed his hope of salvation in the mercy of God alone, and hassorrowfully set forth how much he is abased, he subjoins the effect which this had in impairinghis bodily health, and prays for the restoration of this blessing: Heal me, O Jehovah And this isthe order which we must observe, that we may know that all the blessings which we ask fromGod flow from the fountain of his free goodness, and that we are then, and then only, deliveredfrom calamities and chastisements, when he has had mercy upon us. — For my bones are afraid

This confirms what I have just now observed, namely, that, from the very grievousness of hisafflictions, he entertained the hope of some relief; for God, the more he sees the wretchedoppressed and almost overwhelmed, is just so much the more ready to succor them. He attributesfear to his bones, not because they are endued with feeling, but because the vehemence of his griefwas such that it affected his whole body. He does not speak of his flesh, which is the more tenderand susceptible part of the corporeal system, but he mentions his bones, thereby intimating thatthe strongest parts of his frame were made to tremble for fear. He next assigns the cause of thisby saying, And my soul is greatly afraid. The connective particle and, in my judgment, has herethe meaning of the causal particle for, as if he had said, so severe and violent is the inwardanguish of my heart, that it affects and impairs the strength of every part of my body. I do notapprove of the opinion which here takes soul for life, nor does it suit the scope of the passage.”

6. Spurgeon, “Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak. Though I deserve destruction, yet letthy mercy pity my frailty. This is the right way to plead with God if we would prevail. Urge notyour goodness or your greatness, but plead your sin and your littleness. Cry, "I am weak,"therefore, O Lord, give me strength and crush me not. Send not forth the fury of thy tempestagainst so weak a vessel. Temper the wind to the shorn lamb. Be tender and pitiful to a poorwithering flower, and break it not from its stem. Surely this is the plea that a sick man wouldurge to move the pity of his fellow if he were striving with him, "Deal gently with me, `for I amweak.'" A sense of sin had so spoiled the Psalmist's pride, so taken away his vaunted strength,that he found himself weak to obey the law, weak through the sorrow that was in him, too weak,perhaps, to lay hold on the promise. "I am weak." The original may be read, "I am one whodroops," or withered like a blighted plant. Ah! beloved, we know what this means, for we, too,have seen our glory stained, and our beauty like a faded flower.”

8. Treasury of David, “Verse 2. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. To fly and escape the anger of God,David sees no means in heaven or in earth, and therefore retires himself to God, even to him thatwounded him that he might heal him. He flies not with Adam to the bush, nor with Saul to thewitch, nor with Jonah to Tarshish; but he appeals from an angry and just God to a merciful God,and from himself to himself. The woman who was condemned by King Philip, appealed fromPhilip being drunken to Philip being sober. But David appeals from one virtue, justice, toanother, mercy. There may be appellation from the tribunal of man to the justice seat of God; butwhen thou art indicted before God's justice seat, whither or to whom wilt thou go but to himselfand his mercyseat, which is the highest and last place of appellation? "I have none in heaven butthee, nor in earth besides thee." ... David, under the name of mercy, includes all things, accordingto that of Jacob to his brother Esau, "I have gotten mercy, and therefore I have gotten all things."Desirest thou any thing at God's hands? Cry for mercy, out of which fountain all good things willspring to thee. Archibald Symson. Verse 2. For I am weak. Behold what rhetoric he useth to move God to cure him, "I am weak," anargument taken from his weakness, which indeed were a weak argument to move any man toshow his favour, but is a strong argument to prevail with God. If a diseased person would come toa physician, and only lament the heaviness of his sickness, he would say, God help thee; or anoppressed person come to a lawyer, and show him the estate of his action and ask his advice, thatis a golden question; or to a merchant to crave raiment, he will either have present money or asurety; or a courtier favour, you must have your reward ready in your hand. But coming beforeGod, the most forcible argument that you can use is your necessity, poverty, tears, misery,unworthiness, and confessing them to him, it shall be an open door to furnish you with all thingsthat he hath...The tears of our misery are forcible arrows to pierce the heart of our heavenlyFather, to deliver us and pity our hard case. The beggars lay open their sores to the view of theworld, that the more they may move men to pity them. So let us deplore our miseries to God, thathe, with the pitiful Samaritan, at the sight of our wounds, may help us in due time. ArchibaldSymson.

Verse 2. Heal me, etc. David comes not to take physic upon wantonness, but because the disease isviolent, because the accidents are vehement; so vehement, so violent, as that it hath pierced adossa, and ad animam, "My bones are vexed, and my soul is sore troubled," therefore "heal me;"which is the reason upon which he grounds this second petition, "Heal me, because my bones arevexed," etc. John Donne.

Verse 2. My bones are vexed. The Lord can make the strongest and most insensible part of aman's body sensible of his wrath when he pleaseth to touch him, for here David's bones are

vexed. David Dickson.

Verse 2. The term bones frequently occurs in the Psalms, and if we examine we shall find it used inthree different senses.

1. It is sometimes applied literally to our blessed Lord's human body, to the body which hungupon the cross, as, "They pierced my hands and my feet; I may tell all my bones,"

2. It has sometimes also a further reference to his mystical body the church. And then itdenotes all the members of Christ's body that stand firm in the faith, that cannot bemoved by persecutions, or temptations, however severe, as, "All my bones shall say, Lord,who is like unto thee?"

3. In some passages the term bones is applied to the soul, and not to the body, to the innerman of the individual Christian. Then it implies the strength and fortitude of the soul, thedetermined courage which faith in God gives to the righteous. This is the sense in which itis used in the second verse of Psalm 6, O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed.Augustine, Ambrose, and Chrysostom; quoted by F. H. Dunwell, B.A., in "ParochialLectures on the Psalms," 1855.”

3 My soul is in deep anguish. How long, LORD, how long?

1. Barnes, “My soul is also sore vexed - The word “soul” here is used in the sense in which it iscommonly with us, as denoting the mind. The idea is, that his sorrows were not merely those ofthe bodily frame. They had a deeper seat than even the bones. His mind, his soul, was full ofanguish also, in view of the circumstances which surrounded him, and which had brought onthese bodily afflictions.

But thou, O Lord - This is a broken sentence, as if he had commenced an address to God, butdid not complete it. It is as if he had said, “Here I suffer and languish; my sorrows are deep andunmitigated; as for thee, O Lord” - as if he were about to say that he had hoped God wouldinterpose; or, that his dealings were mysterious; or, that they seemed strange or severe; but heends the sentence by no language of complaint or complaining, but by simply asking “how long”these sorrows were to continue.

How long? - That is, how long wilt thou leave me thus to suffer? How long shall myunmitigated anguish continue? How long will it be ere thou wilt interpose to relieve me? Thelanguage implies that in his apprehension it was already a long time - as time usually seems longto a sufferer (compare Job_7:2-4), and that he was constantly looking out for God to interposeand help him. This is language such as all persons may be inclined to use on beds of pain andlanguishing. It seems indeed long to them now; it will, however, seem short when they look backupon it from the glories of the heavenly world. Compare 2Co_4:17-18.

2. Gill, “My soul is also sore vexed,.... Or "exceedingly troubled" (c), and even frightened andthrown into a consternation with indwelling sin, and on account of actual transgressions, and byreason of the hidings of God's face, and through the temptations of Satan, and because of the fearof death; to which Old Testament saints were very incident.

But thou, O Lord, how long? it is an abrupt expression, the whole he designed is not spoken,being hindered through the grief and sorrow with which his heart was overwhelmed; and is to besupplied after this manner,

"shall I have refreshment?''

as the Chaldee paraphrase; or,

"wilt thou look and not heal me?''

as Jarchi; or

"my soul be troubled?''

as Aben Ezra; or

"shall I be afflicted, and thou wilt not heal me?''

as Kimchi; or

"wilt thou afflict me, and not arise to my help?''

see Psa_13:1.

3. K&D, “His soul is still more shaken than his body. The affliction is therefore not a merelybodily ailment in which only a timorous man loses heart. God's love is hidden from him. God'swrath seems as though it would wear him completely away. It is an affliction beyond all otherafflictions. Hence he enquires: And Thou, O Jahve, how long?!”

4. Calvin, “And thou, O Jehovah, how long? This elliptical form of expression serves to expressmore strongly the vehemence of grief, which not only holds the minds of men bound up, butlikewise their tongues, breaking and cutting short their speech in the middle of the sentence. Themeaning, however, in this abrupt expression is doubtful. Some, to complete the sentence, supplythe words, Wilt thou afflict me, or continue to chasten me? Others read, How long wilt thou delay

thy mercy? But what is stated in the next verse shows that this second sense is the more probable,for he there prays to the Lord to look upon him with an eye of favor and compassion. He,therefore, complains that God has now forsaken him, or has no regard to him, just as God seemsto be far of from us whenever his assistance or grace does not actually manifest itself in ourbehalf. God, in his compassion towards us, permits us to pray to him to make haste to succor us;but when we have freely complained of his long delay, that our prayers or sorrow, on thisaccount, may not pass beyond bounds we must submit our case entirely to his will, and not wishhim to make greater haste than shall seem good to him.”

5. David Guzik, “David Guzik, “How long? David sensed he was under the chastisement of God,but he still knew he should ask God to shorten the trial. There is a place for humble resignationto chastisement, but God wants us to yearn for higher ground and to use that yearning as amotivation to seek Him and get things right with the LORD.”

6. Spurgeon, “. O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed. Here he prays for healing, not merelythe mitigation of the ills he endured, but their entire removal, and the curing of the woundswhich had arisen therefrom. His bones were "shaken," as the Hebrew has it. His terror hadbecome so great that his very bones shook; not only did his flesh quiver, but the bones, the solidpillars of the house of manhood, were made to tremble. "My bones are shaken." Ah, when thesoul has a sense of sin, it is enough to make the bones shake; it is enough to make a man's hairstand up on end to see the flames of hell beneath him, an angry God above him, and danger anddoubt surrounding him. Well might he say, "My bones are shaken." Lest, however, we shouldimagine that it was merely bodily sickness -- although bodily sickness might be the outward sign-- the Psalmist goes on to say, My soul is also sore vexed. Soul-trouble is the very soul of trouble. It matters not that the bonesshake if the soul be firm, but when the soul itself is also sore vexed this is agony indeed.

But thou, O Lord, how long? This sentence ends abruptly, for words failed, and grief drownedthe little comfort which dawned upon him. The Psalmist had still, however, some hope; but thathope was only in his God. He therefore cries, "O Lord, how long?" The coming of Christ into thesoul in his priestly robes of grace is the grand hope of the penitent soul; and, indeed, in someform or other, Christ's appearance is, and ever has been, the hope of the saints.

Calvin's favourite exclamation was, "Domine usquequo" -- O Lord, how long? �or could hissharpest pains, during a life of anguish, force from him any other word. Surely this is the cry ofthe saints under the altar, "O Lord, how long?" And this should be the cry of the saints waitingfor the millennial glories, "Why are his chariots so long in coming; Lord, how long?" Those of uswho have passed through conviction of sin knew what it was to count our minutes hours, and ourhours years, while mercy delayed its coming. We watched for the dawn of grace, as they thatwatch for the morning. Earnestly did our anxious spirits ask, "O Lord, how long?"

7. Treasury of David, “Verse 3. My soul. Yoke fellows in sin are yokefellows in pain; the soul ispunished for informing, the body for performing, and as both the informer and performer, thecause and the instrument, so shall the stirrer up of sin and the executor of it be punished. JohnDonne.

Verse 3. O Lord, how long? Out of this we have three things to observe; first, that there is anappointed time which God hath measured for the crosses of all his children, before which timethey shall not be delivered, and for which they must patiently attend, not thinking to prescribetime to God for their delivery, or limit the Holy One of Israel. The Israelites remained in Egypttill the complete number of four hundred and thirty years were accomplished. Joseph was threeyears and more in the prison till the appointed time of his delivery came. The Jews remainedseventy years in Babylon. So that as the physician appointeth certain times to the patient, bothwherein he must fast, and be dieted, and wherein he must take recreation, so God knoweth theconvenient times both of our humiliation and exaltation. �ext, see the impatience of our nature inour miseries, our flesh still rebelling against the Spirit, which oftentimes forgetteth itself so far,that it will enter into reasoning with God, and quarrelling with him, as we may read in Job,

Jonas, etc., and here also of David. Thirdly, albeit the Lord delay his coming to relieve his saints,yet hath he great cause if we could ponder it; for when we were in the heat of our sins, manytimes he cried by the mouth of his prophets and servants, "O fools, how long will you continue inyour folly?" And we would not hear; and therefore when we are in the heat of our pains, thinkinglong, yea, every day a year till we be delivered, no wonder is it if God will not hear; let usconsider with ourselves the just dealing of God with us; that as he cried and we would not hear,so now we cry, and he will not hear. A. Symson.

Verse 3. O Lord, how long? As the saints in heaven have their usque quo, how long, Lord, holyand true, before thou begin to execute judgment? So, the saints on earth have their usque quo.How long, Lord, before thou take off the execution of this judgment upon us? For, ourdeprecatory prayers are not mandatory, they are not directory, they appoint not God his ways,nor times; but as our postulatory prayers are, they also are submitted to the will of God, andhave all in them that ingredient, that herb of grace, which Christ put into his own prayer, thatveruntamen, yet not my will, but thy will be fulfilled; and they have that ingredient which Christput into our prayer, fiat voluntas, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven; in heaven there is noresisting of his will; yet in heaven there is a soliciting, a hastening, an accelerating of thejudgment, and the glory of the resurrection; so though we resist not his corrections here upon theearth, we may humbly present to God the sense which we have of his displeasure, for this senseand apprehension of his corrections is one of the principal reasons why he sends them; hecorrects us therefore that we might be sensible of his corrections; that when we, being humbledunder his hand, have said with his prophet, "I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I havesinned against him" (Micah 7:9), he may be pleased to say to his correcting angel, as he did to hisdestroying angel, This is enough, and so burn his rod now, as he put up his sword then. JohnDonne.

4 Turn, LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.

1. Just as man can turn from sin and go the way of righteousness, so God can turn from the wayof judgment and discipline to the way of deliverance and healing. This is a valuable prayer weneed to pray often for our health. Here is a case of mental, emotional and physical salvation. He isnot asking for salvation in the sense of eternal life, but for salvation from the effects of his sin,andthe problems in his life because of enemies. He is praying for this deliverance, not because he isworthy of being delivered, but based on God's loving mercy.

2. Barnes, “Return, O Lord, deliver my soul - As if he had departed from him, and had left himto die. The word “soul” in this place is used, as it often is, in the sense of “life,” for in the nextverse he speaks of the grave to which he evidently felt he was rapidly descending.

O save me - Save my life; save me from going down to the grave. Deliver me from thesetroubles and dangers.

For thy mercies’ sake -

(a) As an act of mere mercy, for he felt that he had no claim, and could not urge it as a matter

of right and justice; and

(b) in order that God’s mercy might be manifest, or because he was a merciful Being, andmight, therefore, be appealed to on that ground.

These are proper grounds, now, on which to make an appeal to God for his interposition in ourbehalf; and, indeed, these are the only grounds on which we can plead with him to save us.

2. Clarke, “Return, O Lord - Once I had the light of thy countenance, by sin I have forfeited this;I have provoked thee to depart: O Lord, return! It is an awful thing to be obliged to say, Return,O Lord, for this supposes backsliding; and yet what a mercy it is that a backslider may Return toGod, with the expectation that God will return to him!

3. Gill, “Return, O Lord,.... By this it seems that the Lord had withdrawn himself, and wasdeparted from the psalmist, wherefore he entreats him to return unto him, and grant him hisgracious presence. God is immense and omnipresent, he is everywhere: going away and returningcannot be properly ascribed to him; but he, nay be said to depart from his people, as to sensiblecommunion with him, and enjoyment of him, when he hides his face, withdraws his graciouspresence, and the comfortable discoveries and influences of his love; and he may be said to returnwhen he visits them again, and manifests his love and favour to them: the Jewish writers (d)interpret it, "return from the fierceness of thine anger,'' as in Psa_85:3; and though there is nosuch change in God, as from love to wrath, and from wrath to love; but inasmuch as there is achange in his dispensations towards his people, it is as if it was so; and thus it is apprehended bythem;

deliver my soul; from the anxiety, distress, and sore vexation it was now in, for of all troubles soultroubles are the worst: and from all enemies and workers of iniquity which were now about him,and gave him much grief and uneasiness; and from death itself, he was in fear of;

O, save me for thy mercy's sake; out of all troubles of soul and body, and out of the hands of allenemies, inward and outward; and with temporal, spiritual, and eternal salvation; not for hisrighteousness's sake, as Kimchi well observes; for salvation is according to the abundant mercyof God, and not through works of righteousness done by men, otherwise it would not be of grace.

4. Henry, ““Return, O Lord! receive me into thy favour again, and be reconciled to me. Thou hastseemed to depart from me and neglect me, nay, to set thyself at a distance, as one angry; but now,Lord, return and show thyself nigh to me.” (5.) That he would especially preserve the inwardman and the interests of that, whatever might become of the body: “O Lord! deliver my soul fromsinning, from sinking, from perishing for ever.” It is an unspeakable privilege that we have a Godto go to in our afflictions, and it is our duty to go to him, and thus to wrestle with him, and weshall not seek in vain.

IV. The pleas with which he enforces his petitions, not to move God (he knows our cause andthe true merits of it better than we can state them), but to move himself. 1. He pleads God'smercy; and thence we take some of our best encouragements in prayer: Save me, for thy mercies'

sake.

5. Calvin, “Return, O Lord. In the preceding verses the Psalmist bewailed the absence of God, andnow he earnestly requests the tokens of his presence, for our happiness consists in this, that weare the objects of the Divine regard, but we think he is alienated from us, if he does not give ussome substantial evidence of his care for us. That David was at this time in the utmost peril, wegather from these words, in which he prays both for the deliverance of his soul, as it were, fromthe jaws of death, and for his restoration to a state of safety. Yet no mention is made of any bodilydisease, and, therefore, I give no judgment with respect to the kind of his affliction. David, again,confirms what he had touched upon in the second verse concerning the mercy of God, namely,that this is the only quarter from which he hopes for deliverance: Save me for thy mercy’s sake

Men will never find a remedy for their miseries until, forgetting their own merits, by trusting towhich they only deceive themselves, they have learned to betake themselves to the free mercy ofGod.”

6. David Guzik, “Save me for Your mercies' sake: The note of confession of sin is not strong inthis Psalm of Penitence, but it is not absent. The fact that David appeals to the mercy of God fordeliverance is evidence that he is aware that he doesn't deserve it. "David's conscience is uneasy,and he must appeal to grace to temper the discipline he deserves." (Kidner)

7. Spurgeon, “Return, O Lord; deliver my soul. As God's absence was the main cause of hismisery, so his return would be enough to deliver him from his trouble. Oh save me for thy mercies' sake. He knows where to look, and what arm to lay hold upon. Hedoes not lay hold on God's left hand of justice, but on his right hand of mercy. He knew hisiniquity too well to think of merit, or appeal to anything but the grace of God.

For thy mercies' sake. What a plea that is! How prevalent it is with God! If we turn to justice,what plea can we urge? but if we turn to mercy we may still cry, notwithstanding the greatness ofour guilt, "Save me for thy mercies' sake."

Observe how frequently David here pleads the name of Jehovah, which is always intended wherethe word LORD is given in capitals. Five times in four verses we here meet with it. Is not this aproof that the glorious name is full of consolation to the tempted saint? Eternity, Infinity,Immutability, Self existence, are all in the name Jehovah, and all are full of comfort.

8. Treasury of David, “Verse 4. Return, O Lord, deliver my soul, etc. In this his besieging of God,he brings up his works from afar off, closer; he begins in this Psalm, at a deprecatory prayer; heasks nothing, but that God would do nothing, that he would forbear him -- rebuke me not,correct me not. �ow, it costs the king less to give a pardon than to give a pension, and less to givea reprieve than to give a pardon, and less to connive, not to call in question, than either reprieve,pardon, or pension; to forbear is not much. But then as the mathematician said, that he couldmake an engine, a screw, that should move the whole frame of the world, if he could have a placeassigned him to fix that engine, that screw upon, that so it might work upon the world; so prayer,when one petition hath taken hold upon God, works upon God, moves God, prevails with God,entirely for all. David then having got this ground, this footing in God, he brings his works closer;he comes from the deprecatory to a postulatory prayer; not only that God would do nothingagainst him, but that he would do something for him. God hath suffered man to see Arcanaimperii, the secrets of his state, how he governs -- he governs by precedent; by precedents of hispredecessors, he cannot, he hath none; by precedents of other gods he cannot, there are none; andyet he proceeds by precedents, by his own precedents, he does as he did before, habenti dat, tohim that hath received he gives more, and is willing to be wrought and prevailed upon, and

pressed with his own example. And, as though his doing good were but to learn how to do goodbetter, still he writes after his own copy, and nulla dies sine linea. He writes something to us, thatis, he doth something for us every day. And then, that which is not often seen in other masters, hiscopies are better than the originals; his latter mercies larger than his former; and in thispostulatory prayer, larger than the deprecatory, enters our text, Return, O Lord; deliver my soul:O save me, etc. John Donne.

5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?

1. We in the �ew Testament days have a much more glorious view of the after death experience ofthose who have gone on, but the fact is, death still today for the Christian ends all of the earthlyexperience of praise. You hear no songs at the cemetery, for all the voices of the dead are nowsilent on earth. In heaven they praise without end, but on earth their praise has come to an end.

1B. Barnes, “For in death - In the state of the dead; in the grave.There is no remembrance of thee - They who are dead do not remember thee or think of thee.

The “ground” of this appeal is, that it was regarded by the psalmist as a “desirable” thing toremember God and to praise him, and that this could not be done by one who was dead. Heprayed, therefore, that God would spare his life, and restore him to health, that he might praisehim in the land of the living. A sentiment similar to this occurs in Psa_30:9, “What profit is therein my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?” Soalso Psa_88:11, “Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness indestruction?” So also in Isa_38:18, in the language of Hezekiah, “The grave cannot praise thee;death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.” See thenotes at that passage. A similar sentiment also is found in Job_10:21-22. See the notes at thatpassage. In regard to the meaning of this it may be remarked

(a) that it is to be admitted that there was among the ancient saints much less light on thesubject of the future state than there is with us, and that they often, in giving utterance to theirfeelings, seemed to speak as if all were dark beyond the grave.

(b) But, though they thus spoke in their sorrow and in their despondency, they also did, onother occasions, express their belief in a future state, and their expectation of happiness in acoming world (compare, for example, Psa_16:10-11; Psa_17:15).

(c) Does not their language in times of despondency and sickness express the feelings which“we” often have now, even with all the light which we possess, and all the hopes which wecherish? Are there not times in the lives of the pious, even though they have a strong prevailinghope of heaven, when the thoughts are fixed on the grave as a dark, gloomy, repulsive prison, and“so” fixed on it as to lose sight of the world beyond? And in such moments does not “life” seem asprecious to us, and as desirable, as it did to David, to Hezekiah, or to Job?

In the grave - Hebrew, בׁשאול bishe'ôl, “in Sheol.” For the meaning of the word, see Isa_5:14,note; Isa_14:9, note; Job_7:9, note. Its meaning here does not differ materially from the word

“grave.”

Who shall give thee thanks? - Who shall “praise” thee? The idea is that “none” would thenpraise God. It was the land of “silence.” See Isa_38:18-19. This language implies that David“desired” to praise God, but that he could not hope to do it in the grave.

2. Clarke, “In death there is no remembrance of thee - Man is to glorify thee on earth. The endfor which he was born cannot be accomplished in the grave; heal my body, and heal my soul, thatI may be rendered capable of loving and serving thee here below. A dead body in the grave can dono good to men, nor bring any glory to thy name!

3. Gill, “For in death there is no remembrance of thee,.... Of the goodness, truth, power, andfaithfulness of God; no notice can be taken nor mention, made either of the perfections or worksof God, whether of nature or of grace, by a dead man to others; he is wholly useless to men onearth with respect to these things;

in the grave who shall give thee thanks? for mercies temporal or spiritual; the dead cannot praisethe Lord among men, only the living; see Psa_30:9; wherefore the psalmist desires that he mightlive and praise the Lord: this argument is taken from the glory of God, which end cannot beanswered among men by death, as by life. It does not follow from hence that the soul either diesor sleeps with the body, and is inactive until the resurrection morn, neither of which are true; orthat the souls of departed saints are unemployed in heaven; they are always before the throne,and serve the Lord day and night; they remember, with the utmost gratitude and thankfulness,all the goodness and grace of God unto them, and praise him for all his wondrous works: but thesense is, that when a saint is dead, he can no more serve and glorify God on earth among men.

4. Henry, “He pleads God's glory (Psa_6:5): “For in death there is no remembrance of thee. Lord,if thou deliver me and comfort me, I will not only give thee thanks for my deliverance, and stir upothers to join with me in these thanksgivings, but I will spend the new life thou shalt entrust mewith in thy service and to thy glory, and all the remainder of my days I will preserve a gratefulremembrance of thy favors to me, and be quickened thereby in all instances of service to thee;but, if I die, I shall be cut short of that opportunity of honoring thee and doing good to others, forin the grave who will give the thanks?” �ot but that separate souls live and act, and the souls ofthe faithful joyfully remember God and give thanks to him. But, (1.) In the second death (whichperhaps David, being now troubled in soul under the wrath of God, had some dreadfulapprehensions of) there is no pleasing remembrance of God; devils and damned spiritsblaspheme him and do not praise him. “Lord, let me not lie always under this wrath, for that issheol, it is hell itself, and lays me under an everlasting disability to praise thee.” Those thatsincerely seek God's glory, and desire and delight to praise him, may pray in faith, “Lord, sendme not to that dreadful place, where there is no devout remembrance of thee, nor are any thanksgiven to thee.” (2.) Even the death of the body puts an end to our opportunity and capacity ofglorifying God in this world, and serving the interests of his kingdom among men by opposingthe powers of darkness and bringing many on this earth to know God and devote themselves tohim. Some have maintained that the joys of the saints in heaven are more desirable, infinitelymore so, than the comforts of saints on earth; yet the services of saints on earth, especially such

eminent ones as David was, are more laudable, and redound more to the glory of the divine grace,than the services of the saints in heaven, who are not employed in maintaining the war against sinand Satan, nor in edifying the body of Christ. Courtiers in the royal presence are most happy, butsoldiers in the field are more useful; and therefore we may, with good reason, pray that if it be thewill of God, and he has any further work for us or our friends to do in this world, he will yetspare us, or them, to serve him. To depart and be with Christ is most happy for the saintsthemselves; but for them to abide in the flesh is more profitable for the church. This David hadan eye to when he pleaded this, In the grave who shall give thee thanks? Psa_30:9; Psa_88:10;Psa_115:17; Isa_38:18. And this Christ had an eye to when he said, I pray not that thou shouldst

take them out of the world.

We should sing these verses with a deep sense of the terrors of God's wrath, which we shouldtherefore dread and deprecate above any thing; and with thankfulness if this be not ourcondition, and compassion to those who are thus afflicted: if we be thus troubled, let it comfort usthat our case is not without precedent, nor, if we humble ourselves and pray, as David did, shall itbe long without redress.

5. Calvin, “For in death there is no remembrance of thee. After God has bestowed all things freelyupon us, he requires nothing in return but a grateful remembrance of his benefits. To thisgratitude reference is made when David says, that there will be no remembrance of God in death,

nor any celebration of his praise in the grave His meaning is, that if, by the grace of God, he shallbe delivered from death, he will be grateful for it, and keep it in remembrance. And he laments,that if he should be removed out of the world, he would be deprived of the power andopportunity of manifesting his gratitude, since in that case he would no longer mingle in thesociety of men, there to commend or celebrate the name of God. From this passage someconclude, that the dead have no feeling, and that it is wholly extinct in them; but this is a rashand unwarranted inference, for nothing is here treated of but the mutual celebration of the graceof God, in which men engage while they continue in the land of the living. We know that we areplaced on the earth to praise God with one mind and one mouth, and that this is the end of ourlife. Death, it is true, puts an end to such praises; but it does not follow from this, that the souls ofthe faithful, when divested of their bodies, are deprived of understanding, or touched with noaffection towards God. It is also to be considered, that, on the present occasion, David dreadedthe judgment of God if death should befall him, and this made him dumb as to singing the praisesof God. It is only the goodness of God sensibly experienced by us which opens our mouth tocelebrate his praise; and whenever, therefore, joy and gladness are taken away, praises also mustcease. It is not then wonderful if the wrath of God, which overwhelms us with the fear of eternaldestruction, is said to extinguish in us the praises of God.From this passage, we are furnished with the solution of another question, why David so greatlydreaded death, as if there had been nothing to hope for beyond this world. Learned men reckonup three causes why the fathers under the law were so much kept in bondage by the fear of death.The first is, because the grace of God, not being then made manifest by the coming of Christ, thepromises, which were obscure, gave them only a slight acquaintance with the life to come. Thesecond is, because the present life, in which God deals with us as a Father, is of itself desirable.And the third, because they were afraid lest, after their decease, some change to the worse mighttake place in religion. But to me these reasons do not appear to be sufficiently solid. David’s mindwas not always occupied by the fear he now felt; and when he came to die, being full of days andweary of this life, he calmly yielded up his soul into the bosom of God. The second reason isequally applicable to us at the present day, as it was to the ancient fathers, inasmuch as God’sfatherly love shines forth towards us also even in this life, and with much more illustrious proofs

than under the former dispensation. But, as I have just observed, I consider this complaint ofDavid as including something different, namely, that feeling the hand of God to be against him,and knowing his hatred of sin, he is overwhelmed with fear and involved in the deepest distress.The same may also be said of Hezekiah, inasmuch as he did not simply pray for deliverance fromdeath, but from the wrath of God, which he felt to be very awful, (Isaiah 38:3.)”

6. David Guzik, “In death there is no remembrance of You: It would be wrong to take theseagonized words of David as evidence that there is no life beyond this life. The Old Testament hasa shadowy understanding of the world beyond. Sometimes it shows a clear confidence (Job19:25), and sometimes it has the uncertainty David shows here.i. "Churchyards are silent places; the vaults of the sepulcher echo not with songs. Damp earthcovers dumb mouths." (Spurgeon)

ii. 2 Timothy 2:10 says that Jesus brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Theunderstanding of the after-life was murky at best in the Old Testament; but Jesus let us knowmore about heaven and hell than anyone else could. Jesus could do this because He had first-hand knowledge of the world beyond.

iii. David's point isn't to present a comprehensive theology of the world beyond. He is in agony,fearing for his life, and he knows he can remember God and give Him thanks now. He doesn'thave the same certainty about the world beyond, so he asks God to act according to his certainty.

iv. "At rare moments the Psalms have glimpses of rescue from Sheol, in terms that suggestresurrection, or a translation like that of Enoch or Elijah (c.f. 16:10; 17:15; 49:15; 73:24)."(Kidner)”

7. Spurgeon, “And now David was in great fear of death -- death temporal, and perhaps deatheternal. Read the passage as you will, the following verse is full of power. For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks?Churchyards are silent places; the vaults of the sepulchre echo not with songs. Damp earthcovers dumb mouths. "O Lord!" saith he, "if thou wilt spare me I will praise thee. If I die, thenmust my mortal praise at least be suspended; and if I perish in hell, then thou wilt never have anythanksgiving from me. Songs of gratitude cannot rise from the flaming pit of hell. True, thou wiltdoubtless be glorified, even in my eternal condemnation, but then O Lord, I cannot glorify theevoluntarily; and among the sons of men, there will be one heart the less to bless thee." Ah! poortrembling sinners, may the Lord help you to use this forcible argument! It is for God's glory thata sinner should be saved. When we seek pardon, we are not asking God to do that which willstain his banner, or put a blot on his escutcheon. He delighteth in mercy. It is his peculiar, darlingattribute. Mercy honours God. Do not we ourselves say, "Mercy blesseth him that gives, and himthat takes?" And surely, in some diviner sense, this is true of God, who, when he gives mercy,glorifies himself.

8. Treasury of David, “Verse 5. For in death there is no remembrance of thee, in the grave who willgive thee thanks? Lord, be thou pacified and reconciled to me ... for shouldest thou now proceedto take away my life, as it were a most direful condition for me to die before I have propitiatedthee, so I may well demand what increase of glory or honour will it bring unto thee? Will it not beinfinitely more glorious for thee to spare me, till by true contrition I may regain thy favour? --and then I may live to praise and magnify thy mercy and thy grace: thy mercy in pardoning sogreat a sinner, and then confess thee by vital actions of all holy obedience for the future, and so

demonstrate the power of thy grace which hath wrought this change in me; neither of which willbe done by destroying me, but only thy just judgments manifested in thy vengeance on sinners,Henry Hammond, D.D., 1659

6 I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.

1. It is a valid way to express emotions in poetry by using exaggeration. We do it all the time inromantic poetry, and it is necessary also in spiritual poetry because there are no adequate wordsto express the depth of our feelings, and no language to convey our awesome wonder at thenature and works of God.

1B. Barnes, “I am weary with my groaning - I am exhausted or worn out with it. That is, hissorrows were so deep, and his groaning was so constant, that his strength failed. He became“faint” under the weight of his sorrows. All persons in trouble have experienced this effect - thesense of weariness or exhaustion from sorrow.

All the night make I my bed to swim - That is, he wept so much that his bed seemed to beimmersed in tears. This is, of course, hyperbolical language, expressing in a strong and emphaticmanner the depth of his sorrows.

I water my couch with my tears - The word here rendered “water” means to melt, to flowdown; then, in the Hiphil, to cause to flow, to dissolve. The sense here is, that he caused his couchto “flow” or “overflow” with his tears. We would say, he “flooded” his bed with tears. This versediscloses the true source of the trials referred to in the psalm. It was some deep mental anguish -some source of grief - that exhausted his strength, and that laid him on a bed of languishing. �ocircumstances in the life of David better accord with this than the troubles which existed onaccount of the ungrateful and rebellious conduct of Absalom, and it is most natural to refer it tothis. Many a parent since the time of David has experienced “all,” both mental and bodily, whichis here described as a consequence of the ingratitude and evil conduct of his children. Thetragedy of “Lear” turns entirely on this.

2. Gill, “I am weary with my groanings,.... By reason of bodily illness, or indwelling sin, or theguilt of actual transgressions, or the hidings of God's face, or a sense of divine wrath, or thetemptations of Satan, or afflictions and crosses of various kinds, or fears of death, or even earnestdesires after heaven and eternal happiness, or the low estate of Zion; each of which at timesoccasion groaning in the saints, as in the psalmist, and is the common experience of all good men.The psalmist being weary of his disease, or of sin, groaned till he was weary with his groaning;

inward groaning affects the body, wastes the animal spirits, consumes the flesh, and inducesweariness and faintness; see Psa_102:5;

all the night make I my bed to swim: I water my couch with my tears; these are hyperbolicalphrases (e), expressing more than is intended, and are not to be literally understood; for such aquantity of tears a man could never shed, as to water his couch and make his bed to swim withthem, but they are used to denote the multitude of them, and the excessiveness of his sorrow; seePsa_119:136; and these tears were shed, not to atone and satisfy for sin, for nothing but the bloodand sacrifice of Christ can do that; but to express the truth and reality, as well as the abundanceof his grief; and this was done "all the night long"; see Job_7:3; when he had leisure to think andreflect upon his sins and transgressions, and when he was clear of all company, and no one couldhear or see him, nor interrupt him in the vent of his sorrow, and when his disease might beheavier upon him, as some diseases increase in the night season: this may also be mysticallyunderstood, of a night of spiritual darkness and desertion, when a soul is without the discoveriesof the love of God, and the influences of his grace; and has lost sight of God and Christ, andinterest in them, and does not enjoy communion with them; and throughout this night seasonweeping endures, though joy comes in the morning. And it may be applicable to David's antitype,to the doleful night in which he was betrayed, when it was the hour and power of darkness, andwhen he had no other couch or bed but the ground itself; which was watered, not only with histears, but with his sweat and blood, his sweat being as it were great drops of blood falling to theground; so he is often said to sigh and groan in spirit, Mar_7:34.

3. Calvin, “These forms of expression are hyperbolical, but it must not be imagined that David,after the manner of poets, exaggerates his sorrow; but he declares truly and simply how severeand bitter it had been. It should always be kept in mind, that his affliction did not proceed somuch from his having been severely wounded with bodily distress; but regarding God as greatlydispleased with him, he saw, as it were, hell open to receive him; and the mental distress whichthis produces exceeds all other sorrows. Indeed, the more sincerely a man is devoted to God, he isjust so much the more severely disquieted by the sense of his wrath; and hence it is that holypersons, who were otherwise endued with uncommon fortitude, have showed in this respect thegreatest softness and want of resolution. And nothing prevents us at this day from experiencing inourselves what David describes concerning himself but the stupidity of our flesh. Those who haveexperienced, even in a moderate degree, what it is to contend with the fear of eternal death, willbe satisfied that there is nothing extravagant in these words. Let us, therefore, know that hereDavid is represented to us as being afflicted with the terrors of his conscience,“With the terrors ofdeath.” and feeling within him torment of no ordinary kind, but such as made him almost faintaway, and lie as if dead. With respect to the words, he says, Mine eye hath waxed dim; for grief ofmind easily makes its way to the eyes, and from them very distinctly shows itself. As the word עתקathak, which I have translated it hath waxed old, sometimes signifies to depart from one’s place,some expound it, that the goodness of his eyesight was lost, and his sight, as it were, had vanished.Others understand by it that his eyes were hidden by the swelling which proceeds from weeping.The first opinion, however, according to which David complains of his eyes failing him, as it were,through old age, appears to me the more simple. As to what he adds, every night, we learn from itthat he was almost wholly wasted away with protracted sorrow, and yet all the while never ceasedfrom praying to God.”

4. Spurgeon, “I am weary with my groaning. He has groaned till his throat was hoarse; he hadcried for mercy till prayer became a labour. God's people may groan, but they may not grumble.

Yea, they must groan, being burdened, or they will never shout in the day of deliverance. Thenext sentence, we think, is not accurately translated. It should be, I shall make my bed to swim every night (when nature needs rest, and when I am most alone withmy God). That is to say, my grief is fearful even now, but if God do not soon save me, it will notstay of itself, but will increase, until my tears will be so many, that my bed itself shall swim. Adescription rather of what he feared would be, than of what had actually taken place. May notour forebodings of future woe become arguments which faith may urge when seeking presentmercy?

5. Bill Crowder has one of the best devotionals on this:, “Recording artist James Taylor explodedonto the music scene in early 1970 with the song “Fire and Rain.” In it, he talked about thedisappointments of life, describing them as “sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on theground.” That was a reference to Taylor’s original band Flying Machine, whose attempt atbreaking into the recording industry had failed badly, causing him to wonder if his dreams of amusical career would ever come true. The reality of crushed expectations had taken their toll,leaving Taylor with a sense of loss and hopelessness.

The psalmist David also experienced hopeless despair as he struggled with his own failures, theattacks of others, and the disappointments of life. In Psalm 6:6 he said, “I am weary with mygroaning; all night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears.” The depth of hissorrow and loss drove him to heartache—but in that grief he turned to the God of all comfort.David’s own crushed and broken “flying machines” gave way to the assurance of God’s care,prompting him to say, “The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer”(v.9).

In our own seasons of disappointment, we too can find comfort in God, who cares for our brokenhearts.

Even in my darkest hourThe Lord will bless me with His power;His loving grace will sure abound,In His sweet care I shall be found. —Brandt

6. Treasury of David, “Verse 6. I fainted in my mourning. It may seem a marvellous change inDavid, being a man of such magnitude of mind, to be thus dejected and cast down. Prevailed henot against Goliath, against the lion and the bear, through fortitude and magnanimity? But nowhe is sobbing, sighing, and weeping as a child! The answer is easy; the diverse persons with whomhe hath to do occasions the same. When men and beasts are his opposites, then he is more than aconqueror; but when he hath to do with God against whom he sinned, then he is less thannothing.

Verse 6. I caused my bed to swim. ... Showers be better than dews, yet it is sufficient if God at leasthath bedewed our hearts, and hath given us some sign of a penitent heart. If we have not rivers ofwaters to pour forth with David, neither fountains flowing with Mary Magdalene, nor as Jeremy,desire to have a fountain in our head to weep day and night, nor with Peter weep bitterly; yet ifwe lament that we cannot lament, and mourn that we cannot mourn: yea, if we have the smallestsobs of sorrow and tears of compunction, if they be true and not counterfeit, they will make usacceptable to God; for as the woman with the bloody issue that touched the hem of Christ's

garment, was no less welcome to Christ than Thomas, who put his fingers in the print of thenails; so, God looketh not at the quantity, but the sincerity of our repentance.

Verse 6. My bed. The place of his sin is the place of his repentance, and so it should be; yea, whenwe behold the place where we have offended, we should be pricked in the heart, and there againcrave him pardon. As Adam sinned in the garden, and Christ sweat bloody tears in the garden."Examine your hearts upon your beds, and convert unto the Lord;" and whereas ye havestretched forth yourselves upon your bed to devise evil things, repent there and make themsanctuaries to God. Sanctify by your tears every place which ye have polluted by sin. And let usseek Christ Jesus on our own bed, with the spouse in the Canticles, who saith, "By night on mybed I sought him whom my soul loveth." Archibald Symson.

Verse 6. I water my couch with tears. �ot only I wash, but also I water. The faithful sheep of thegreat Shepherd go up from the washing place, every one bringeth forth twins, and none barrenamong them. Song of Solomon 4:2. For so Jacob's sheep, having conceived at the wateringtroughs, brought forth strong and party coloured lambs. David likewise, who before had erredand strayed like a lost sheep making here his bed a washing place, by so much the less is barrenin obedience, by how much the more he is fruitful in repentance. In Solomon's temple stood thecaldrons of brass, to wash the flesh of those beasts which were to be sacrificed on the altar.Solomon's father maketh a water of his tears, a caldron of his bed, an altar of his heart, asacrifice, not of the flesh of unreasonable beasts, but of his own body, a living sacrifice, which ishis reasonable serving of God. �ow the Hebrew word here used signifies properly, to cause toswim, which is more than simply to wash. And thus the Geneva translation readeth it, I cause mybed every night to swim. So that as the priests used to swim in the molten sea, that they might bepure and clean, against they performed the holy rites and services of the temple, in like mannerthe princely prophet washes his bed, yea, he swims in his bed, or rather he causes his bed to swimin tears, as in a sea of grief and penitent sorrow for his sin. Thomas Playfere, 1604.

Verse 6. I water my couch with my tears. Let us water our bed every night with our tears. Do notonly blow upon it with intermissive blasts, for then like fire, it will resurge and flame the more.Sin is like a stinking candle newly put out, it is soon lighted again. It may receive a wound, butlike a dog it will easily lick itself whole; a little forbearance multiplies it like Hydra's heads.Therefore, whatsoever aspersion the sin of the day has brought upon us, let the tears of the nightwash away. Thomas Adams.

Verse 6-7. Soul trouble is attended usually with great pain of body too, and so a man is woundedand distressed in every part. There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger, saysDavid. "The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit."Job 6:4. Sorrow of heart contracts the natural spirits, making all their motions slow and feeble;and the poor afflicted body does usually decline and waste away; and, therefore, saith Heman,"My soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave." In this inward distress wefind our strength decay and melt, even as wax before the fire; for sorrow darkeneth the spirits,obscures the judgment, blinds the memory, as to all pleasant things, and beclouds the lucid partof the mind, causing the lamp of life to burn weakly. In this troubled condition the person cannotbe without a countenance that is pale, and wan, and dejected, like one that is seized with strongfear and consternation; all his motions are sluggish, and no sprightliness nor activity remains. Amerry heart doth good, like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Hence come thosefrequent complaints in Scripture: My moisture is turned into the drought of the summer: I amlike a bottle in the smoke; my soul cleaveth unto the dust: my face is foul with weeping, and onmy eyelid is the shadow of death. Job 16:16 30:17-19. "My bones are pierced in me, in the nightseasons, and my sinews take no rest; by the great force of my disease is my garment changed. He

hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes." Many times indeed the troubleof the soul does begin from the weakness and indisposition of the body. Long affliction, withoutany prospect of remedy, does, in process of time, begin to distress the soul itself. David was a manoften exercised with sickness and the rage of enemies; and in all the instances almost that wemeet with him in the Psalms, we may observe that the outward occasions of trouble brought himunder an apprehension of the wrath of God for his sin. (Psalms 6:1-2; and the reasons given,Psalms 6:5-6.) All his griefs running into this most terrible thought, that God was his enemy. Aslittle brooks lose themselves in a great river, and change their name and nature, it mostfrequently happens that when our pain is long and sharp, and helpless and unavoidable, we beginto question the sincerity of our estate toward God, though at its first assault we had few doubts orfears about it. Long weakness of body makes the soul more susceptible of trouble, and uneasythoughts. Timothy Rogers on Trouble of Mind.

7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.

1. Barnes, “Mine eye is consumed - The word here rendered “consumed” - עׁשׁש ‛âshêsh - meansproperly to fall in, to fall away, and is applied here to the “eye” as pining or wasting away fromcare, anxiety, and sorrow. Tears were poured forth from the eye, and it seemed to be exhaustingitself in this manner. The meaning is, that it had grown “dim,” or that its sight began to fail, likethat of an old man, on account of his troubles. Many have understood the word here rendered“eye” as referring to the “countenance;” but it is doubtful whether the word ever has thissignification; and at any rate the common signification, referring it to the “eye,” best suits thisconnection.

It waxeth old - It seems to grow old; it experiences the effects commonly produced by age inblunting the power of vision. This is not an uncommon effect of grief and sadness. Even while Iam writing this I am called in my pastoral visitations to attend on a young lady lying on a bed oflanguishing, and probably of death, one of whose symptoms is a quite diminished, and indeedalmost total loss of vision, as the effect of trouble and disease.

Because of all mine enemies - From the trouble which they have brought upon me. Thereference here, according to the interpretation proposed of the psalm, is to Absalom and thosewho were associated with him. Their conduct had been such as to bring upon David thisoverwhelming tide of sorrows.

2. Gill, “Mine eye is consumed because of grief,.... Either by reason of the affliction he labouredunder, which could not he joyous, but grievous; or because, of the sin that was in him, and thosethat he had committed, which were grieving to him; or through the sins of other professors ofreligion, or profane sinners, whom he beheld with grief of heart and weeping eyes: the word (f)

used signifies anger and indignation, and sorrow arising from thence, and may denote eitherindignation in himself at his enemies, who were rejoicing at his calamities; or the sense he had ofthe anger of God, and his hot displeasure, which he feared he was rebuking and chastening himwith; and now his heart being filled with grief on one or other of these accounts, or all of them,vented itself in floods of tears, which hurt the visive faculty; for through much weeping the eye isweakened and becomes dim; and through a multitude of tears, and a long continuance of them, itfails; see Job_17:7;

it waxeth old because of all mine enemies; saints have many enemies, sin, Satan, and the world;and these are very oppressive ones, as the word (g) here signifies; such as beset them about,straiten them on all hands, and press them sore; and they must be pressed down by them, were itnot that he that is in them is greater than he that is in the world; and David's enemies gave himso much trouble, and caused him to shed such plenty of tears, that his eye waxed old, was shrunkup, and beset with wrinkles, the signs of old age; or it was removed out of its place, as the word isrendered in Job_18:4; or the sight was removed from that, it was gone from him, Psa_38:10.

3. Henry, “The impression which his troubles made upon him. They lay very heavily; he groaned

till he was weary, wept till he made his bed to swim, and watered his couch (Psa_6:6), wept till hehad almost wept his eyes out (Psa_6:7): My eye is consumed because of grief. David had morecourage and consideration than to mourn thus for any outward affliction; but, when sin satheavily upon his conscience and he was made to possess his iniquities, when his soul was woundedwith the sense of God's wrath and his withdrawings from him, then he thus grieves and mournsin secret, and even his soul refuses to be comforted. This not only kept his eyes waking, but kepthis eyes weeping. �ote, 1. It has often been the lot of the best of men to be men of sorrows; ourLord Jesus himself was so. Our way lies through a vale of tears, and we must accommodateourselves to the temper of the climate. 2. It well becomes the greatest spirits to be tender, and torelent, under the tokens of God's displeasure. David, who could face Goliath himself and manyanother threatening enemy with an undaunted bravery, yet melts into tears at the remembranceof sin and under the apprehensions of divine wrath; and it was no diminution at all to hischaracter to do so. 3. True penitents weep in their retirements. The Pharisees disguised theirfaces, that they might appear unto men to mourn; but David mourned in the night upon the bedwhere he lay communing with his own heart, and no eye was a witness to his grief, but the eye ofhim who is all eye. Peter went out, covered his face, and wept. 4. Sorrow for sin ought to be greatsorrow; so David's was; he wept so bitterly, so abundantly, that he watered his couch. 5. Thetriumphs of wicked men in the sorrows of the saints add very much to their grief. David's eyewaxed old because of his enemies, who rejoiced in his afflictions and put bad constructions uponhis tears. In this great sorrow David was a type of Christ, who often wept, and who cried out, My

soul is exceedingly sorrowful, Heb_5:7.

4. Spurgeon, “I water my couch with my tears. Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxethold because of all my enemies. As an old man's eye grows dim with years, so, says David, my eyeis grown red and feeble through weeping. Conviction sometimes has such an effect upon the body,that even the outward organs are made to suffer. May not this explain some of the convulsionsand hysterical attacks which have been experienced under convictions in the revivals in Ireland?Is it surprising that some souls be smitten to the earth, and begin to cry aloud; when we find thatDavid himself made his bed to swim, and grew old while he was under the heavy hand of God?Ah! brethren, it is no light matter to feel one's self a sinner, condemned at the bar of God. Thelanguage of this Psalm is not strained and forced, but perfectly natural to one in so sad a plight.

5. Treasury of David, “Verse 6-7. See Psalms on "Psalms 6:6" for further information.

Verse 7. Mine eye is consumed. Many make those eyes which God hath given them, as it were twolighted candles to let them see to go to hell; and for this God in justice requites them, seeing theirminds are blinded by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, God, I say,sendeth sickness to debilitate their eyes which were so sharp sighted in the devil's service, andtheir lust now causeth them to want the necessary sight of their body.

Verse 7. Mine enemies. The pirates seeing an empty bark, pass by it; but if she be loaded withprecious wares, then they will assault her. So, if a man have no grace within him, Satan passethby him as not a convenient prey for him; but being loaded with graces, as the love of God, hisfear, and such other spiritual virtues, let him be persuaded that according as he knows what stuffis in him, so will he not fail to rob him of them, if in any case he may, Archibald Symson.

Verse 7. That eye of his that had looked and lusted after his neighbour's wife is now dimmed and

darkened with grief and indignation. He has wept himself almost blind. John Trapp.

8 Away from me, all you who do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping.

1. Jamison, “Assured of God’s hearing, he suddenly defies his enemies by an address indicatingthat he no longer fears them.

2. Barnes, “Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity - Referring, by the “workers of iniquity,”to his enemies, as if they now surrounded him, and calling on them “now” to leave him, since Godhad heard his prayer, and they could not be successful in their purposes. This is an indirect butmost emphatic way of saying that God had heard his prayer; and the sentiment in this verse isstrongly in contrast with the desponding state of feeling - the deep and dreadful sorrow -indicated in the previous verses. Light broke in suddenly upon him; his prayer had come upbefore God, and, in some way, he was assured that it would be answered. Already he sees hisenemies scattered, and his own cause triumphant; and in this exulting feeling he addresses hisfoes, and commands them to leave him. This is, therefore, a remarkable and striking proof thatprayer may be heard, even while we are speaking to God (compare Isa_65:24); that the assurancemay be conveyed suddenly to the mind that God will hear and answer the prayer which isaddressed to him; and also a beautiful illustration of the effect of this on a mind overwhelmedwith trouble and sorrow, in giving it calmness and peace.

For the Lord hath heard - That is, my prayer has ascended before him, and I am certain thathe regards it favorably, and will answer it. “In what way” he had this assurance he does notinform us. As he was an inspired man, we may suppose that the assurance was given to himdirectly by the Holy Spirit. “We” are not to expect the “same kind” of assurance that our prayersare heard; we are to look for no revelation to that effect; but there may be “as real” an intimation

to the mind that our prayers are heard - as real “evidence” - as in this case. There may be a firmconfidence of the mind that God is a hearer of prayer now coming to the soul with the freshnessof a new conviction of that truth; and there may be, in trouble and sorrow, a sweet calmness andpeace breathed through the soul - an assurance that all will be right and well, as if the prayerwere heard, and such as there would be if we were assured by direct revelation that it is heard.The Spirit of God can produce this in our case as really as he did in the case of David.

The voice of my weeping - The voice of prayer that accompanied my weeping, or the voice ofthe weeping itself - the cry of anguish and distress which was in itself of the nature of prayer.

3. Clarke, “Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity - It seems that while he was sufferinggrievously through the disease, his enemies had insulted and mocked him; - upbraided him withhis transgressions, not to increase his penitence, but to cast him into despair.

The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping - The Lord pitifully beheld the sorrows of hisheart, and mercifully forgave his sins.

4. Gill, “Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity,.... The psalmist being fully assured that Godhad heard his prayer, that he should recover from his disorder, or be delivered out of hiscalamities, whether corporeal or spiritual, has on a sudden a spring of joy, faith, and comfort; assometimes there is a quick transition from comfortable to uncomfortable frames; see Psa_30:7;so on the contrary, there is as quick a passage from uncomfortable to comfortable ones; seeLam_3:18; who may be called "workers of iniquity" See Gill on Psa_5:5; and these were eitherhis open enemies, as Saul and his men, or Absalom and the conspirators with him, whom he bidsto cease from following and pursuing after him; or his secret ones, hypocritical courtiers, thatwere about him, who were wishing and hoping for his death. It is the lot of God's people to beamong the workers of iniquity; Lot was among the Sodomites, David was in Meshech and in thetents of Kedar, Isaiah was among men of unclean lips; Christ's lily is among thorns, and his sheepamong goats; and though in some respects a civil conversation with wicked men cannot beavoided, for then good men must needs go out of the world; yet as little company should be keptwith them as can be, and no fellowship should be had with them in sinful practices, nor insuperstitious worship; and though there will not be a full and final separation from them in thepresent state of things, there will be hereafter, when these very words will be used by David'santitype, the Lord Jesus Christ; not only to profane sinners, but to carnal professors of religion,who have herded themselves with the people of God, Mat_25:41. The reason why the psalmisttook heart and courage, and ordered his wicked persecutors, or sycophants, to be gone from him,was his assurance of being heard by the Lord;

for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping; referring to what is said Psa_6:6; he had notonly lifted up his voice in prayer, but he had wept and made supplication, as Jacob did,Hos_12:4; sometimes God brings his people to the throne of grace weeping, and withsupplications leads them, Jer_31:9; and then hears their cry and answers them.

5. Henry, “What a sudden change is here for the better! He that was groaning, and weeping, andgiving up all for gone (Psa_6:6, Psa_6:7), here looks and speaks very pleasantly. Having made hisrequests known to God, and lodged his case with him, he is very confident the issue will be goodand his sorrow is turned into joy.

I. He distinguishes himself from the wicked and ungodly, and fortifies himself against theirinsults (Psa_6:8): Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity. When he was in the depth of hisdistress, 1. He was afraid that God's wrath against him would give him his portion with theworkers of iniquity; but now that this cloud of melancholy had blown over he was assured thathis soul would not be gathered with sinners, for they are not his people. He began to suspecthimself to be one of them because of the heavy pressures of God's wrath upon him; but now thatall his fears were silenced he bade them depart, knowing that his lot was among the chosen. 2.The workers of iniquity had teased him, and taunted him, and asked him, “Where is thy God?”triumphing in his despondency and despair; but now he had wherewith to answer those thatreproached him, for God, who was about to return in mercy to him, had now comforted his spiritand would shortly complete his deliverance. 3. Perhaps they had tempted him to do as they did,to quit his religion and betake himself for ease to the pleasures of sin. But now, “depart from me; Iwill never lend an ear to your counsel; you would have had me to curse God and die, but I willbless him and live.” This good use we should make of God's mercies to us, we should therebyhave our resolution strengthened never to have any thing more to do with sin and sinners. Davidwas a king, and he takes this occasion to renew his purpose of using his power for the suppressionof sin and the reformation of manners, Psa_75:4; Psa_101:3. When God has done great things forus, this should put us upon studying what we shall do for him. Our Lord Jesus seems to borrowthese words from the mouth of his father David, when, having all judgment committed to him, heshall say, Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity (Luk_13:27), and so teaches us to say so now,Psa_119:115.

6. Calvin, “After David has disburdened his griefs and troubles into the bosom of God, he now, asit were, assumes a new character. And, without doubt, he had been afflicted with long-continueddespondency of spirit before he could recover himself, and attain to such a degree of assurance ashe here displays; for we have already seen that he had spent many nights in continual weeping.�ow, the more he had been distressed and wearied by the long delay of his deliverance, with somuch the more alacrity does he stir up himself to sing of victory. Directing his discourse againsthis adversaries, he represents it as not the least part of his temptations that ungodly mentriumphed over him, and derided him as lost, and in a hopeless condition; for we know with whatinsolence their pride and cruelty magnify themselves against the children of God, when they seethem oppressed under the cross. And to this Satan moves them, in order to drive the faithful todespair, when they see their hope made the subject of mockery. This passage teaches us, that thegrace of God is the only light of life to the godly; and that, as soon as He has manifested sometoken of his anger, they are not only greatly afraid, but also, as it were, plunged into the darknessof death; while, on the other hand, as soon as they discover anew that God is merciful to them,they are immediately restored to life. David, it is to be noticed, repeats three times that hisprayers were heard, by which he testifies that he ascribes his deliverance to God, and confirmshimself in this confidence, that he had not betaken himself to God in vain. And if we wouldreceive any fruit from our prayers, we must believe that God’s ears have not been shut againstthem. By the word weeping, “Silent grief is not much known in the East. Hence, when the peoplespeak of lamentation, they say, Have I not heard the voice of his mourning?” he not onlyindicates vehemence and earnestness, but also intimates that he had been wholly occupied inmourning and sorrowful lamentations. The confidence and security which David takes to himselffrom the favor of God ought also to be noticed. From this, we are taught that there is nothing inthe whole world, whatever it may be, and whatever opposition it may make to us, which we maynot despise, if we are fully persuaded of our being beloved by God; and by this also we

understand what his fatherly love can do for us. By the adverb suddenly, he signifies, that whenthere is apparently no means of delivering the faithful from affliction, and when all seemsdesperate or hopeless, then they are delivered by the power of God contrary to all expectation.When God suddenly changes men’s afflicted condition into one of joy and happiness, he therebymanifests more illustriously his power, and makes it appear the more wonderful.”

7. David Guzik, “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity: It may be that the sin that ledDavid into this chastisement was association with the ungodly. Here we see David actingconsistently with his change of heart, and telling all ungodly associates to depart.i. It is important to separate from ungodly associations. J. Edwin Orr describes some of the workamong new converts in Halifax during the Second Great Awakening in Britain: "Among themwas a boxer who had just won a money-prize and a belt. A crowd of his erstwhile companionsstood outside the hall in order to ridicule him, and they hailed the converted boxer with a shout:'He's getting' converted! What about that belt? Tha'lt either have to fight for it or give it up!' Theboxer retorted: 'I'll both give it up and you up! If you won't go with me to heaven, I won't gowith you to hell!' He gave them the belt, but persuaded some of them to accompany him to theservices, where another was converted and set busily working."

8. Spurgeon, “Hitherto, all has been mournful and disconsolate, but now -- "Your harps, ye trembling saints, Down from the willows take."

Ye must have your times of weeping, but let them be short. Get ye up, get ye up, from yourdunghills! Cast aside your sackcloth and ashes! Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comethin the morning.

David has found peace, and rising from his knees he begins to sweep his house of the wicked.

Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. The best remedy for us against an evil man is a longspace between us both. "Get ye gone; I can have no fellowship with you." Repentance is apractical thing. It is not enough to bemoan the desecration of the temple of the heart, we mustscourge out the buyers and sellers, and overturn the tables of the money changers. A pardonedsinner will hate the sins which cost the Saviour his blood. Grace and sin are quarrelsomeneighbours, and one or the other must go to the wall.

For the Lord hath hear the voice of my weeping. What a fine Hebraism, and what grand poetry itis in English! "He hath heard the voice of my weeping." Is there a voice in weeping? Doesweeping speak? In what language doth it utter its meaning? Why, in that universal tongue whichis known and understood in all the earth, and even in heaven above. When a man weeps, whetherhe be a Jew or Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, it has the same meaning in it. Weepingis the eloquence of sorrow. It is an unstammering orator, needing no interpreter, but understoodof all. Is it not sweet to believe that our tears are understood even when words fail? Let us learnto think of tears as liquid prayers, and of weeping as a constant dropping of importunateintercession which will wear its way right surely into the very heart of mercy, despite the stonydifficulties which obstruct the way. My God, I will "weep" when I cannot plead, for thou hearestthe voice of my weeping.

9. Treasury of David, “Verse 8. Depart from me, etc., i.e., you may now go your way; for thatwhich you look for, namely, my death, you shall not have at this present; for the Lord hath heard

the voice of my weeping, i.e., has graciously granted me that which with tears I asked of him.Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 8. Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. May not too much familiarity with profanewretches be justly charged upon church members? I know man is a sociable creature, but thatwill not excuse saints as to their carelessness of the choice of their company. The very fowls of theair, and beasts of the field, love not heterogeneous company. "Birds of a feather flock together." Ihave been afraid that many who would be thought eminent, of a high stature in grace andgodliness, yet see not the vast difference there is between nature and regeneration, sin and grace,the old and the new man, seeing all company is alike unto them. Lewis Stuckley's "GospelGlass", 1667.

Verse 8. The voice of my weeping. Weeping hath a voice, and as music upon the water soundsfarther and more harmoniously than upon the land, so prayers, joined with tears, cry louder inGod's ears, and make sweeter music than when tears are absent. When Antipater had written alarge letter against Alexander's mother unto Alexander, the king answered him, "One tear frommy mother will wash away all her faults." So it is with God. A penitent tear is an undeniableambassador, and never returns from the throne of grace unsatisfied. Spencer's Things �ew andOld.

Verse 8. The wicked are called, workers of iniquity, because they are free and ready to sin, theyhave a strong tide and bent of spirit to do evil, and they do it not to halves but thoroughly; theydo not only begin or nibble at the bait a little (as a good man often doth), but greedily swallow itdown, hook and all; they are fully in it, and do it fully; they make a work of it, and so are"workers of iniquity." Joseph Caryl.

Verse 8. Some may say, "My constitution is such that I cannot weep; I may as well go to squeeze arock, as think to get a tear." But if thou canst not weep for sin, canst thou grieve? Intellectualmourning is best; there may be sorrow where there are no tears, the vessel may be full though itwants vent; it is not so much the weeping eye God respects as the broken heart; yet I would beloath to stop their tears who can weep. God stood looking on Hezekiah's tears (Isaiah 38:5), "Ihave seen thy tears." David's tears made music in God's ears, The Lord hath heard the voice ofmy weeping. It is a sight fit for angels to behold, tears as pearls dropping from a penitent eye. T.Watson.

Verse 8. The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. God hears the voice of our looks, God hearsthe voice of our tears sometimes better than the voice of our words; for it is the Spirit itself thatmakes intercession for us. Romans 8:26. Gemitibus inenarrabilibus, in those groans, and so inthose tears, which we cannot utter; ineloquacibus, as Tertullian reads that place, devout, andsimple tears, which cannot speak, speak aloud in the ears of God; nay, tears which we cannotutter; not only utter the force of the tears, but not utter the very tears themselves. As God sees thewater in the spring in the veins of the earth before it bubble upon the face of the earth, so Godsees tears in the heart of a man before they blubber his face; God hears the tears of thatsorrowful soul, which for sorrow cannot shed tears. From this casting up of the eyes, and pouringout the sorrow of the heart at the eyes, at least opening God a window through which he may seea wet heart through a dry eye; from these overtures of repentance, which are as those imperfectsounds of words, which parents delight in, in their children, before they speak plain, a penitentsinner comes to a verbal and a more expressive prayer. To these prayers, these vocal and verbalprayers from David, God had given ear, and from this hearing of those prayers was David cometo this thankful confidence, The Lord hath heard, the Lord will hear. John Donne.

Verse 8. What a strange change is here all of a sudden! Well might Luther say, "Prayer is the leech

of the soul, that sucks out the venom and swelling thereof." "Prayer," saith another, "is anexorcist with God, and an exorcist against sin and misery." Bernard saith, "How oft hath prayerfound me despairing almost, but left me triumphing, and well assured of pardon!" The same ineffect saith David here, "Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard thevoice of my weeping." What a word is that to his insulting enemies! Avaunt! come out! vanish!These be words used to devils and dogs, but good enough for a Doeg or a Shimei. And the Son ofDavid shall say the same to his enemies when he comes to judgment. John Trapp.

9 The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer.

1. Barnes, “The Lord hath heard my supplication - Repeating the sentiment in the previous verse,to express his assurance and his joy. �othing is more natural in such circumstances than to dwellon the joyous thought, and to repeat it to ourselves, that it may make its full impression.

The Lord will receive my prayer - As he has done it, so he will still do it. This allays all fears ofthe future, and makes the mind calm. The state of mind here is this: “The Lord has heard myprayer; I am assured that he will do it hereafter; I have, therefore, nothing to fear.”

2. Gill, “The Lord hath heard my supplication,.... Which he had presented to him, Psa_6:1; inwhich he deprecates his anger and hot displeasure; entreats his free favour, grace, and mercy;desires healing for soul or body, or both; prays a return of his gracious presence; and deliveranceand salvation out of all his troubles, from all his enemies, and from death itself. The word (h)used properly signifies petitions for grace and mercy, which the psalmist put up under theinfluence of the spirit of grace and supplication, and which were heard;

the Lord will receive my prayer; instead of a burnt offering, as Aben Ezra glosses it; as sweetincense, as what is grateful and delightful, coming up out of the hands of Christ the Mediator,perfumed with the sweet incense of his mediation: the word (i) signifies prayer made to God asthe righteous Judge, as the God of his righteousness, who would vindicate his cause and right hiswrongs; and a believer, through the blood and righteousness of Christ, can go to God as arighteous God, and plead with him even for pardon and cleansing, who is just and faithful togrant both unto him. The psalmist three times expresses his confidence of his prayers being heardand received, which may be either in reference to his having prayed so many times for help, asthe Apostle Paul did, 2Co_12:8; and as Christ his antitype did, Mat_26:39; or to express thecertainty of it, the strength of his faith in it, and the exuberance of his joy on account of it.

3. Henry, “He assures himself that God was, and would be, propitious to him, notwithstandingthe present intimations of wrath which he was under. 1. He is confident of a gracious answer tothis prayer which he is now making. While he is yet speaking, he is aware that God hears (asIsa_65:24, Dan_9:20), and therefore speaks of it as a thing done, and repeats it with an air oftriumph, “The Lord hath heard” (Psa_6:8), and again (Psa_6:9), “The Lord hath heard.” By the

workings of God's grace upon his heart he knew his prayer was graciously accepted, andtherefore did not doubt but it would in due time be effectually answered. His tears had a voice, aloud voice, in the ears of the God of mercy: The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. Silenttears are not speechless ones. His prayers were cries to God: “The Lord has heard the voice of my

supplication, has put his Fiat - Let it be done, to my petitions, and so it will appear shortly.” 2.Thence he infers the like favourable audience of all his other prayers: “He has heard the voice of

my supplication, and therefore he will receive my prayer; for he gives, and does not upbraid withformer grants.”

4. F. B. Meyer, “The prayer is no sooner uttered than answered. The consciousness of having beenheard steals over the weary soul like a glint of light on to a bed in the hospital ward. David knowsthat the petition is granted, though it has not yet come to hand (1 John 5:15). Weeping has a voicefor the ear of God. He can interpret sighs and tears (Psalm 6:8). In the Revised Version, thewords of Psalm 6:10 read like an imprecation--they shall be ashamed and turn back. When Godreturns (Psalm 6:4), our enemies turn back (Psalm 6:10).”

5. Spurgeon, “The Lord hath heard my supplication. The Holy Spirit had wrought into thePsalmist's mind the confidence that his prayer was heard. This is frequently the privilege of thesaints. Praying the prayer of faith, they are often infallibly assured that they have prevailed withGod. We read of Luther that, having on one occasion wrestled hard with God in prayer, he cameleaping out of his closet crying, "Vicimus, vicimus;" that is, "We have conquered, we haveprevailed with God." Assured confidence is no idle dream, for when the Holy Ghost bestows itupon us, we know its reality, and could not doubt it, even though all men should deride ourboldness. The Lord will receive my prayer. Here is past experience used for futureencouragement. He hath, he will. �ote this, O believer, and imitate its reasoning.

The experience here recorded is mine. I can set to my seal that God is true. In very wonderfulways He has answered the prayers of His servant many and many a time. Yes, and He is hearingmy present supplication, and He is not turning away His ear from me. Blessed be His holy name!What then? Why, for certain the promise which lies sleeping in the psalmist's believingconfidence is also mine. Let me grasp it by the hand of faith: "The LORD will receive myprayer." He will accept it, think of it, and grant it in the way and time which His loving wisdomjudges to be best. I bring my poor prayer in my hand to the great King, and He gives meaudience and graciously receives my petition. My enemies will not listen to me, but my LORDwill. They ridicule my tearful prayers, but my LORD does not; He receives my prayer into Hisear and His heart. What a reception this is for a poor sinner! We receive Jesus, and then theLORD receives us and our prayers for His Son's sake. Blessed be that dear name which franks(Ed: frank as a transitive verb means to enable to pass or go freely or easily) our prayers so thatthey freely pass even within the golden gates. LORD, teach me to pray, since Thou hearest myprayers.”

6. Treasury of David, “Verse 9. The Lord hath heard my supplication, etc. The psalmist three timesexpresses his confidence of his prayers being heard and received, which may be either inreference to his having prayed so many times for help, as the apostle Paul did (2 Corinthians 12:8); and as Christ his antitype did (Matthew 26:39,42,44); or to express the certainty of it, thestrength of his faith in it, and the exuberance of his joy on account of it. John Gill, D.D., 1697-1771.

7. God hears us when we call to Him,�ot one voice is ignored;The sounds of praise, the pleas of painAre all heard by the Lord. —Sper

10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame andanguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put toshame.

1. Barnes, “Let all mine enemies be ashamed - Be so brought to see their folly that they shall beashamed of their conduct. The wish is that they might be brought to see their own guilt - a wishcertainly which it is right to cherish in regard to all evil-doers.

And sore vexed - Compare the notes at Psa_5:10. The same Hebrew word is used here whichoccurs in Psa_6:2-3, and rendered “vexed.” It is a word which denotes trouble, trembling,consternation; and the meaning here is, that the psalmist prayed that they might be confoundedor disconcerted in their plans - a prayer which is certainly proper in regard to all the purposes ofthe wicked. �o one should desire that the purposes of the wicked should prosper; and not todesire this is to desire that they may be foiled and overcome in their schemes. This must be thewish of every good man.

Let them return - Turn back, or be turned back; that is, let them be repulsed, and compelled toturn back from their present object.

And be ashamed suddenly - Hebrew, “In a moment;” instantaneously. He desired that theremight be no delay, but that their defeat might be accomplished at once. As it was right to praythat this might occur, so it was right to pray that it might occur without delay, or as speedily aspossible. The sooner the plans of sinners are confounded, the better.

2. “Ashamed and sore vexed - May they as deeply deplore their transgressions as I have donemine! May they return; may they be suddenly converted! The original will bear this meaning,and it is the most congenial to Christian principles.”

3. “ Let all mine enemies be ashamed,.... Or "they shall be ashamed" (k); and so the followingclauses may be rendered, and be considered as prophecies of what would be; though if this beconsidered as an imprecation, it is wishing no ill; wicked men are not ashamed of theirabominations committed by them, neither can they blush; it would be well if they were ashamedof them, and brought to true repentance for them; and if they are not ashamed now, they will behereafter, when the Judge of quick and dead appears;

and sore vexed; or "troubled" (l); as his bones had been vexed, and his soul had been sore vexedby them; as he knew they would be through disappointment at his recovery, and at his

deliverance from the distresses and calamities he was now in, when he should sing for joy ofheart, and they should howl for vexation of spirit;

let them return; meaning either from him, from pursuing after him; or to him, to seek his favour,and be reconciled to him, and be at peace with him, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi explain it; unlessthis word should only signify "again", as it sometimes does, and be read in connection with whatfollows;

and let them be again ashamed suddenly (m); intimating that his deliverance would be sudden, ina moment, in a very little time, and so would be their disappointment, shame, and confusion.Jarchi, from R. Jonathan and R. Samuel bar �achmani, refers this to the shame of the wicked inthe world to come.

4. Henry, “He either prays for the conversion or predicts the destruction of his enemies andpersecutors, Psa_6:10. 1. It may very well be taken as a prayer for their conversion: “Let them allbe ashamed of the opposition they have given me and the censures they have passed upon me. Letthem be (as all true penitents are) vexed at themselves for their own folly; let them return to abetter temper and disposition of mind, and let them be ashamed of what they have done againstme and take shame to themselves.” 2. If they be not converted, it is a prediction of their confusionand ruin. They shall be ashamed and sorely vexed (so it maybe read), and that justly. Theyrejoiced that David was vexed (Psa_6:2, Psa_6:3), and therefore, as usually happens, the evilreturns upon themselves; they also shall be sorely vexed. Those that will not give glory to Godshall have their faces filled with everlasting shame.

In singing this, and praying over it, we must give glory to God, as a God ready to hear prayer,must own his goodness to us in hearing our prayers, and must encourage ourselves to wait uponhim and to trust in him in the greatest straits and difficulties.”

5. Spurgeon, “Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed. This is rather a prophecy than animprecation, it may be read in the future, "All my enemies shall be ashamed and sore vexed."They shall return and be ashamed instantaneously, -- in a moment; -- their doom shall come uponthem suddenly. Death's day is doom's day, and both are sure and may be sudden. The Romanswere wont to say, "The feet of the avenging Deity are shod with wool." With noiseless footstepsvengeance nears its victim, and sudden and overwhelming shall be its destroying stroke. If thiswere an imprecation, we must remember that the language of the old dispensation is not that ofthe new. We pray for our enemies, not against them. God have mercy on them, and bring theminto the right way. Thus the Psalm, like those which precede it, shows the different estates of the godly and thewicked. O Lord, let us be numbered with thy people, both now and forever!

6. Treasury of David, “Verse 10. Let all mine enemies be ashamed, etc. If this were an imprecation,a malediction, yet it was medicinal, and had rationem boni, a charitable tincture and nature in it;he wished the men no harm as men. But it is rather predictorium, a prophetical vehemence, thatif they will take no knowledge of God's declaring himself in the protection of his servants, if theywould not consider that God had heard, and would hear, had rescued, and would rescue hischildren, but would continue their opposition against him, heavy judgments would certainly fallupon them; their punishment should be certain, but the effect should be uncertain; for God onlyknows whether his correction shall work upon his enemies to their mollifying, or to their

obduration ... In the second word,

Let them be sore vexed, he wishes his enemies no worse than himself had been, for he had usedthe same word of himself before, Ossa turbata, My bones are vexed; and Anima turbata, My soulis vexed; and considering that David had found this vexation to be his way to God, it was nomalicious imprecation to wish that enemy the same physic that he had taken, who was more sickof the same disease than he was. For this is like a troubled sea after a tempest; the danger is past,but yet the billow is great still; the danger was in the calm, in the security, or in the tempest, bymisinterpreting God's correction to our obduration, and to a remorseless stupefication; but whena man is come to this holy vexation, to be troubled, to be shaken with the sense of the indignationof God, the storm is past, and the indignation of God is blown over. That soul is in a fair and nearway of being restored to a calmness, and to reposed security of conscience that is come to thisholy vexation. John Donne.

Verse 10. Let all mine enemies or (all mine enemies shall) be ashamed, and sore vexed, etc. Manyof the mournful Psalms end in this manner, to instruct the believer that he is continually to lookforward, and solace himself with beholding that day, when his warfare shall be accomplished;when sin and sorrow shall be no more; when sudden and everlasting confusion shall cover theenemies of righteousness; when the sackcloth of the penitent shall be exchanged for a robe ofglory, and every tear becomes a sparkling gem in his crown; when to sighs and groans shallsucceed the songs of heaven, set to angels harps, and faith shall be resolved into the vision of theAlmighty. George Horne.