Commentary - Psalm 6:1-7

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 6 is the first of the seven traditional penitential psalms, and it serves as a master class in how a man of God deals with his sin and the misery that follows it. David is in deep distress, a distress that is both physical and spiritual. His bones are vexed, his soul is dismayed, and he is weeping so much that his bed is swimming. This is not just a case of the blues; this is the heavy hand of God upon a beloved but disobedient son. The psalm is a raw, honest cry for mercy. David knows he deserves discipline, but he appeals to God to deal with him in grace, not in raw anger. He distinguishes between God's fatherly correction and His judicial wrath. The central pivot of his argument is an appeal to God's own character and glory. He asks for salvation based on God's lovingkindness, or covenant loyalty, arguing that a dead man in Sheol cannot praise Yahweh. This psalm teaches us that the path out of the depths of our own sin and sorrow is not to minimize the sin, but to magnify the Savior, appealing to His mercy on the basis of His own covenant promises.

The structure is a straightforward lament that moves toward a declaration of confidence, though this first section focuses entirely on the lament. David lays out his condition before God, asks the poignant question "how long?", and pleads for deliverance. His grief is all-consuming, affecting his body, his soul, and even his eyesight. He is surrounded by adversaries who are no doubt taking advantage of his weakened state. But underneath the torrent of tears and sighs is a bedrock of faith. He is talking to God, after all. He has not despaired. He knows where to take his troubles, and that is the beginning of all true repentance and restoration.

Outline

Context In Psalms

As the first of the penitential psalms (the others being 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143), Psalm 6 sets a foundational tone for how God's people are to approach Him in their sin. It establishes a pattern of honest confession, heartfelt grief, and an appeal to God's grace. In the flow of the Psalter, it comes after psalms that have dealt with external opposition (Psalms 3-5) and introduces the theme of internal turmoil caused by personal sin. This is crucial. The psalter is not just about "us" versus "them." It is often about "me" versus "me," the old man warring against the new. David, the great king, is shown here at his lowest, not because of Saul or Absalom primarily, but because of his own sin and God's resultant displeasure. This psalm provides the necessary balance, reminding the worshiper that before we can deal rightly with the enemies outside the gates, we must first deal honestly with the traitor within our own hearts.

Key Issues

Transactions of Grace

This psalm is a transaction of grace. That phrase might sound like a contradiction to the carnal mind, which thinks of transactions as cold, calculated exchanges. But the economy of God is different. Here is a man, David, who knows he is in the wrong. He has sinned, and he merits punishment. He doesn't come to God with excuses or justifications. He comes with a plea for restraint. He knows that if God dealt with him according to what he truly deserved, he would be utterly destroyed. So he appeals, not to his own righteousness, but to God's character. "Save me because of Your lovingkindness." This is the heart of the gospel. We do not bring anything to the table to bargain with. Our only hope is to cast ourselves on the unmerited, covenant-keeping love of God. David is humble. He is not resentful or angry at God for his condition. He accepts the reality of his sin and the justice of his suffering. And it is in that place of utter humility that he finds the boldness to ask for grace. The transactions of grace make no sense to the proud, but to the broken and contrite, they are the very words of life.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 O Yahweh, do not reprove me in Your anger, Nor discipline me in Your wrath.

David begins by making a crucial theological distinction. He is not asking God to withhold all discipline. He knows he needs it and deserves it. A loving father disciplines his sons. To be without chastisement is to be an illegitimate child (Heb. 12:8). So David is not praying, "Lord, don't ever correct me." Rather, he is praying, "Lord, correct me as a son, not as an enemy." He asks that the reproof not come from God's anger and that the discipline not be in His wrath. This is the difference between correction and condemnation, between chastisement and destruction. David is asking for fatherly discipline, which is for our good, instead of judicial wrath, which is for our ruin. This is a prayer every Christian can and should pray, knowing that in Christ, we are delivered from the wrath to come. God's discipline on us is always remedial, never purely retributive.

2 Be gracious to me, O Yahweh, for I am pining away; Heal me, O Yahweh, for my bones are dismayed.

Having asked for the right kind of discipline, David now lays out his miserable condition as the basis for his appeal. He asks for grace because he is "pining away," weak and languishing. The Hebrew word suggests a state of withering like a plant. His plea for healing is rooted in the fact that his very "bones are dismayed." In Hebrew thought, the bones represent the very frame of a person, the deepest part of his physical being. This is not a surface-level sickness; it is a deep, structural affliction. The dismay of his bones is the physical manifestation of the spiritual sickness in his soul. Sin has consequences that reverberate through our entire being, body and soul.

3 And my soul is greatly dismayed; But You, O Yahweh, how long?

If his bones were dismayed, his soul is greatly dismayed. The inner man is in even worse shape than the outer man. The spiritual agony is the source of the physical agony. And in the midst of this profound turmoil, he utters one of the most poignant cries in all of Scripture: "But You, O Yahweh, how long?" This is not the question of impertinent rebellion, but the question of faith-filled desperation. He knows that God is the one who has ordained this suffering, and he knows that only God can end it. The question "how long?" acknowledges God's sovereignty over the duration of the trial. It is a plea for the trial to end, but it is a plea directed to the only one who has the authority to end it. It is a question that acknowledges that the timing is in God's hands, while simultaneously begging for that timing to be soon.

4 Return, O Yahweh, rescue my soul; Save me because of Your lovingkindness.

The sense of God's absence is at the heart of David's suffering. Therefore, his central plea is for God to return. When God is near, there is fullness of joy. When He withdraws His manifest presence, the soul is in terror. David asks God to return and, in so doing, to rescue his soul, to deliver his very life from this state of death. And notice the basis of his appeal. It is not "save me because I have learned my lesson" or "save me because I promise to do better." It is "Save me because of Your lovingkindness." The word here is hesed, that great covenant term that speaks of God's steadfast, loyal, unconditional love for His people. David is appealing to God's character, to His covenant promises. He is essentially saying, "Lord, be who You have promised to be. Act according to Your own nature." This is the most solid ground a sinner can stand on.

5 For there is no remembrance of You in death; In Sheol who will give You thanks?

This is a challenging verse for modern readers, but it is a powerful part of David's argument. He is not denying the afterlife. He is speaking from a particular Old Testament vantage point about Sheol, the realm of the dead. Sheol was understood as a place of shadows, silence, and separation from the land of the living where the corporate worship of Yahweh took place. David's point is theological and doxological. "Lord, my death will not bring you any more praise. I cannot give you thanks from the grave. The congregation of Israel will be deprived of my voice in the choir. Therefore, for the sake of Your own glory, which is advanced by the praises of Your people, keep me alive." It is a shrewd and godly argument. He is leveraging God's zeal for His own praise as a reason for his own deliverance. It turns the focus from his own comfort to God's glory.

6 I am weary with my sighing; Every night I make my bed swim, I flood my couch with my tears.

Here David paints a vivid picture of his all-consuming grief. His sorrow is not a quiet, dignified affair. He is weary, exhausted from the physical act of groaning. His nights are sleepless, spent in weeping. The language is hyperbolic, but it communicates the reality of his state. He is drowning in his own sorrow. The bed, which should be a place of rest, has become a place of torment, a small sea of tears. This is what godly grief over sin can look like. It is not a matter of a few crocodile tears and a quick prayer. It is a deep, soul-wrenching agony that affects every part of life.

7 My eye has wasted away with grief; It has become old because of all my adversaries.

The effects of his grief are physically manifest. His eye, the organ of sight, is "wasted away." It has grown dim and old before its time. This could be a literal description of the effect of constant weeping, or a metaphor for his loss of vitality and hope. And he adds a final element to his misery: "because of all my adversaries." His internal struggle with sin and God has been compounded by external opposition. His enemies are watching his decline, no doubt gloating and plotting. They see his suffering as proof that God has abandoned him. This adds another layer of torment to his already heavy burden. He is not just suffering; he is suffering publicly, under the malicious gaze of those who hate him and his God.

Application

Every Christian sins, and therefore every Christian needs to know how to pray Psalm 6. This is not a psalm for the spiritually elite; it is a psalm for sinners. And that means it is for all of us. First, we must learn to distinguish between God's wrath and His discipline. Because of Christ's finished work on the cross, the believer will never face the condemning wrath of God. But we will, and we must, face His fatherly discipline. When we sin, we should not be surprised when our bones are vexed and our soul is dismayed. We should expect the loving hand of our Father to correct us.

Second, we must learn to be brutally honest with God about our condition. David does not hold back. He talks about his weariness, his groaning, his rivers of tears. Our prayers should not be polished and polite when our souls are in turmoil. God wants us to pour out our hearts to Him. He can handle our desperation.

Third, and most importantly, our only hope in the depths is to appeal to the hesed of God. We cannot appeal to our own merits. We cannot bargain our way out of trouble. We must cast ourselves entirely on the covenant-keeping mercy of God, which has its ultimate expression in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who endured the fullness of God's wrath so that we might only ever have to endure His discipline. He is the one who went down into the depths of Sheol and returned, guaranteeing that the grave will not have the final say. When you find yourself in the pit of Psalm 6, do what David did. Look away from your sin, look away from your suffering, and look to the steadfast lovingkindness of the Lord. That is a foundation that can bear any weight.