4 Come back, O Lord, make my soul free; O give me salvation because of your mercy.
Up! Lord, come out against him, make him low, with your sword be my saviour from the evil-doer.
Then I made my prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord, take my soul out of trouble.
Come back, O God of armies: from heaven let your eyes be turned to this vine, and give your mind to it,
Make my soul safe from the sword, my life from the power of the dog.
O my God, let your ear be turned and give hearing; let your eyes be open and see how we have been made waste and the town which is named by your name: for we are not offering our prayers before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercies.
That in the time to come he might make clear the full wealth of his grace in his mercy to us in Christ Jesus: Because by grace you have salvation through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is given by God:
To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely gave to us in the Loved One:
Do not keep in mind my sins when I was young, or my wrongdoing: let your memory of me be full of mercy, O Lord, because of your righteousness.
See, in place of peace my soul had bitter sorrow. but you have kept back my soul from the underworld; for you have put all my sins out of your memory.
O Lord, be the saviour of my soul from false lips, and from the tongue of deceit.
You have taken my soul from the power of death, keeping my eyes from weeping, and my feet from falling.
Do not keep in mind against us the sins of our fathers; let your mercy come to us quickly, for we have been made very low. Give us help, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; take us out of danger and give us forgiveness for our sins, because of your name.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 6
Commentary on Psalms 6 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 6
David was a weeping prophet as well as Jeremiah, and this psalm is one of his lamentations: either it was penned in a time, or at least calculated for a time, of great trouble, both outward and inward. Is any afflicted? Is any sick? Let him sing this psalm. The method of this psalm is very observable, and what we shall often meet with. He begins with doleful complaints, but ends with joyful praises; like Hannah, who went to prayer with a sorrowful spirit, but, when she had prayed, went her way, and her countenance was no more sad. Three things the psalmist is here complaining of:-
This psalm is like the book of Job.
To the chief musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith. A psalm of David.
Psa 6:1-7
These verses speak the language of a heart truly humbled under humbling providences, of a broken and contrite spirit under great afflictions, sent on purpose to awaken conscience and mortify corruption. Those heap up wrath who cry not when God binds them; but those are getting ready for mercy who, under God's rebukes, sow in tears, as David does here. Let us observe here,
We should sing these verses with a deep sense of the terrors of God's wrath, which we should therefore dread and deprecate above any thing; and with thankfulness if this be not our condition, and compassion to those who are thus afflicted: if we be thus troubled, let it comfort us that our case is not without precedent, nor, if we humble ourselves and pray, as David did, shall it be long without redress.
Psa 6:8-10
What a sudden change is here for the better! He that was groaning, and weeping, and giving up all for gone (v. 6, 7), here looks and speaks very pleasantly. Having made his requests known to God, and lodged his case with him, he is very confident the issue will be good and his sorrow is turned into joy.
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 upon him and to trust in him in the greatest straits and difficulties.