New American Bible
2002 11 11
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Chapter 6
1
1 2 For the leader; with
stringed instruments, "upon the eighth." A psalm of David.
2
Do not reprove me in your anger, LORD, nor
punish me in your wrath.
3
Have pity on me, LORD, for I am weak; heal me,
LORD, for my bones are trembling.
4
3 In utter terror is my soul - and you, LORD, how long...?
5
4 Turn, LORD, save my life; in your mercy rescue
me.
6
5 For who among the dead remembers you? Who
praises you in Sheol?
7
I am wearied with sighing; all night long tears
drench my bed; my couch is soaked with weeping.
8
My eyes are dimmed with sorrow, worn out
because of all my foes.
9
Away from me, all who do evil! The LORD has
heard my weeping.
10
The LORD has heard my prayer; the LORD takes up
my plea.
11
My foes will be terrified and disgraced; all
will fall back in sudden shame.
1 [Psalm 6] The first of the seven
Penitential Psalms (Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143), a designation dating
from the seventh century A.D. for psalms suitable to express repentance. The
psalmist does not, as in many laments, claim to be innocent but appeals to
God's mercy (⇒ Psalm 6:5). Sin here, as often in the
Bible, is both the sinful act and its injurious consequences; here it is
physical sickness (⇒ Psalm 6:3-4,
⇒ 7-8) and the attacks of enemies
(⇒ Psalm 6:8, 9,
⇒ 10)[11]. The psalmist prays that the effects of
personal and social sin be taken away.
2 [1] Upon the eighth: apparently a
musical notation, now lost.
3 [4] How long?: elliptical for
"How long will it be before you answer my prayer?" Cf
⇒ Psalm 13:2-3.
4 [5] mercy: Heb. hesed, translated
as "mercy' or "love," describes God's affectionate fidelity to
human beings, which is rooted in divine and not human integrity.
5 [6] A motive for God to preserve
the psalmist from death: in the shadowy world of the dead no one offers you praise.
Sheol is the biblical term for the underworld where the insubstantial souls of
dead human beings dwelt. It was similar to the Hades of Greek and Latin
literature. In the second century B.C., biblical books begin to speak
positively of life with God after death (⇒ Daniel
12:1-3; Wisdom 3).
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