Psalms 6

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Reading Psalms · Listen to the poem

Start anywhere in Psalms. Bring these reading tools with you.

Identify the kind of speech

Ask whether this psalm praises, laments, gives thanks, teaches, or celebrates kingship. These forms can overlap. Notice who speaks and whom the poem addresses before assigning every line to the same voice.

Read across the lines

Compare neighboring lines: does the second echo, contrast with, or develop the first? Repeated words and changing images can reveal movement within a short poem. Superscriptions are part of the received text, but do not by themselves securely date composition.

Try it in Psalm 23

Track the movement from pasture and paths to a table, cup, and dwelling. What changes when the speaker moves from describing the shepherd to directly addressing him? Keep poetic imagery distinct from an itinerary.

Keep the collection in view

Read the preceding and following psalms as a separate comparison. Their placement can invite connections without proving that they were composed together. Numbering can differ between Hebrew and Greek traditions.

Explore the scholarship: Yale · historical and literary discussion ↗

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1 To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.

3 My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?

4 Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake.

5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

6 I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.

7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.

8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.

9 The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer.

10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.

World Behind This Chapter

Explore the people, places, language, history, and material world connected to Psalms 6.

QUESTIONS WORTH EXPLORING

What stands out about illness in Psalm 6?

Psalm 6 builds its movement around illness, divine anger, tears, and exhausted lament. Tracking repeated words, parallel lines, changes of speaker, and image clusters shows how the poem develops before assigning a later interpretation.

What world does Psalm 6 ask the reader to picture?

The poem evokes sickroom and tear-soaked bed. Those settings may be literal, remembered, ritual, or metaphorical; distinguishing those possibilities is part of reading Hebrew poetry carefully.

Research PathsCurated links for exploring this chapter 3
Language & Literature3
  • Hebrew Poetry FormsBible Odyssey

    Explains Hebrew poetic forms, including versets, parallelism, repetition, and poetic shaping. Useful for Psalm 6’s compact lament language: rebuke, mercy, troubled bones, tears, enemies, and sudden reversal.

  • Psalm 6: Entering the PsalmHebrew College

    Readable close engagement with Psalm 6’s lament language, including distress, tears, Sheol, enemies, and the speaker’s cry for mercy. Useful for helping readers feel the emotional force of early psalmic lament.

  • Psalm 6: Hebrew and English TextMechon Mamre

    Bilingual Hebrew-English text for Psalm 6, including rebuke, mercy, healing, troubled bones, Sheol, weeping, and enemies put to shame.

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