Psalms 6:6-9

6:6 I am exhausted as I groan;

all night long I drench my bed in tears; ¹ 

my tears saturate the cushion beneath me. ² 

6:7 My eyes ³  grow dim ⁴  from suffering;

they grow weak ⁵  because of all my enemies. ⁶ 

6:8 Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly, ⁷ 

for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping! ⁸ 

6:9 The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy;

the Lord has accepted ⁹  my prayer.

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¹ tn Heb “I cause to swim through all the night my bed.”

² tn Heb “with my tears my bed I flood/melt.”

³ tn The Hebrew text has the singular “eye” here.

⁴ tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”

⁵ tn Or perhaps, “grow old.”

⁶ sn In his weakened condition the psalmist is vulnerable to the taunts and threats of his enemies.

⁷ tn Heb “all [you] workers of wickedness.” See Ps 5:5.

⁸ sn The Lord has heard. The psalmist’s mood abruptly changes because the Lord responded positively to the lament and petition of vv. 1-7 and promised him deliverance.

⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form is probably a preterite here; it is parallel to a perfect and refers to the fact that the Lord has responded favorably to the psalmist’s request.