I. (6:1–5) Plea for Mercy. These verses arise from some life-threatening situation; many commentators suppose it must be sickness. While that would certainly fit the description, so would a number of other desperate crises, and thus the psalm fits a wider range of crises. The song interprets the situation as coming from God’s displeasure at some particular sins (“rebuke me not . . . discipline me [not]”; v. 1). This does not mean that all desperate situations are evidence of God’s displeasure, only that some may be; this psalm provides a vehicle for singing to God properly in such cases.

The prayer is for God to “be gracious” (v. 2), to show favor beyond what the singer deserves. More specifically, the psalm requests God to “heal”; this might support the idea that the psalm is primarily to be sung by someone with a serious sickness. But the term can be used as a metaphor for relief from other distresses, and the description of deep grief (vv. 6–7) likewise suits more situations than physical ailments (as dangerous as those would indeed have been in the ancient Near Eastern setting!).

Those who are penitent appeal to God’s love and mercy (“for the sake of your steadfast love”; v. 4), not to their own well doing. The other penitential psalms share this theological conviction about the God who graciously offers himself in his covenant.

Verse 5 mentions “Sheol” as a place where no one praises God. “Sheol” is a proper name in Hebrew; sometimes it serves as a poetic name for the grave, to which all go (e.g., 141:7), while other times it names the dim destination to which the wicked, but not the faithful, go (e.g., 49:14–15). If it refers to the grave here, the idea is that the dead do not have the privilege of recounting God’s praise in the worshiping company of the temple. The verse expresses the fear that the psalmist’s sins, if not forgiven, would separate him from God’s presence.100

Jesus adapts the words of 6:3–4 in John 12:27: “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” It is his particular calling to suffer rather than to pray for deliverance from suffering. Whereas Jesus’ followers may often suffer for his sake (cf. Matt. 5:11–12; 1 Pet. 3:14, 17), nevertheless they may, in the ordinary case, seek relief (as in James 4:1–7).

II. (6:6–7) Weariness and Weeping. Now the psalmist describes the effects of realizing that his circumstances stem from his sins: he moans and weeps and loses sleep from sorrow over his sins. It is quite possible, perhaps even likely, that ordinary worshipers will not feel the depth of emotion found in these verses; the purpose of the description here is for them to see that they should feel this way when under the conviction of sin.

III. (6:8–10) The Lord Has Heard. Those who earnestly sorrow for their sins may have the assurance that God hears their cries for mercy and will not give them over to the schemes of their enemies.

In Psalm 6:8 the song addresses a group called “workers of evil”; the term appears frequently in the Psalms (5:5; 14:4//53:4; 36:12; 59:2; 64:2; 92:7, 9; 94:4, 16; 101:8; 125:5; 141:4, 9). This term does not designate a fixed group of people, and we must discern whom it denotes in each case. Since these are probably the same as the “enemies” (6:10), it makes sense to suppose that these people would take advantage of the singer’s distress, slandering him and perhaps even trying to hasten his death. Because “the Lord has heard,” the song conveys the assurance that these enemies are all bark and no bite.

Apparently Jesus adapts the words of verse 8, “Depart from me, all you workers of evil.” In Luke 13:27 he likens any Jews of his day who resist his message to the enemies of this psalm, who will discover in the end that Jesus really does have God’s favor. And in Matthew 7:23 those who have called him “Lord” but do not actually make the doing of the Father’s will their life’s course are likened to the troublesome enemies, who will finally be banished.

The particular plea and prayer (6:9) is that of verses 1–5: the Lord, in hearing it, forgives, and thus there will be a reversal in verse 10—while the singer’s “bones” and “soul” were troubled before (vv. 2–3), now it is the “enemies” who will be “greatly troubled” (v. 10).