Psalm 6: When the Tears Won’t Stop

Core Theme: For when sorrow has settled into your body and soul alike, the nights run long, and you are not sure how much more you can carry

(Related Theme: This psalm also speaks to Physical Illness & Suffering — see verses 2–3 below.)

Background

David wrote Psalm 6 during a season when he was hurting on every level at once. His body was failing, his soul was troubled, his nights were spent in tears, and enemies were pressing in while he was too weak to answer them. Scripture does not tell us what event lay behind it. That silence may be a quiet mercy, because it lets the psalm fit your own night as closely as it fit David’s.

The heading says it was given “to the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith.” Neginoth refers to stringed instruments. Sheminith means “the eighth,” and its exact meaning is uncertain. It may refer to an eight-stringed instrument or to a lower musical register. A low, somber setting would certainly suit a song like this one. Psalm 6 is also the first of seven psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143) that Christians have long grouped together as the penitential psalms, or psalms of repentance, because David opens by asking the Lord to correct him gently and not in anger.

Psalm 6 (KJV)

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.

The heart of it

Psalm 6 is an honest psalm. David does not tidy up his sorrow before he brings it to God, and he does not pretend to be stronger than he is. He tells the Lord that he is weak, that his bones and his soul are both troubled, and that he has cried so long his bed is soaked with tears. Then he asks the question every grieving heart eventually asks: “how long?”

David is a man who knows God, and he still weeps. Sorrow is not proof of weak faith. The Lord Jesus Himself was “…a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief…” (Isaiah 53:3), and at the grave of His friend Lazarus the Scripture simply says, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Grief is part of living in a fallen world. What matters is where we take it, and David takes all of it straight to God.

Then the psalm turns. Nothing in the text tells us David’s circumstances changed between verse 7 and verse 8. He is still weak, and the enemies are still there. What changed is that David became certain God had heard him. Psalm 6 moves from tears to confidence before the trouble is resolved, and that order is what makes it such a gift to someone still sitting in the dark.

Walking through it

Verse 1: “O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.”

David does not ask God never to correct him. He asks God not to chasten [discipline, correct] him in anger. He seems to sense that some of his trouble may be connected to his own failures, and he does not argue the point. He simply asks for mercy in the correction. For the believer, God’s discipline always comes from a Father’s heart and not a judge’s wrath: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6). Not every sorrow is chastening, though. Much of the grief we carry is simply the weight of loss in a broken world. Either way, David’s first move is the right one. He turns toward God, not away from Him.

Verses 2–3: “Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.”

Here David describes sorrow that has moved into his body. His bones are vexed [deeply troubled, shaken], and so is his soul. Anyone who has grieved knows how this feels. Sorrow is not only an emotion. It drains strength, disturbs sleep, and leaves the whole person worn out. For anyone walking through physical illness and suffering, David’s plea, “O LORD, heal me,” is a reminder that the body’s pain can be brought to God as freely as the heart’s. David does not ask for mercy because he has earned it. He asks because he is weak, and in the very next verse he rests his whole appeal on God’s character: “…oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.” Then his prayer in verse 3 breaks off into a half-finished cry: “but thou, O LORD, how long?” He does not complete the sentence. Sometimes the deepest prayers are the ones we cannot finish, and God hears those too.

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

This may be the most vivid picture of grief in all the Psalms. David is not exaggerating to be poetic. He is describing what sorrow feels like from the inside: endless nights, a pillow that never dries, and a weariness that comes from crying itself. Many of us know that bed. It is a comfort to find it described in the Word of God, because it means our tears are not shameful or hidden from Him. One day the Lord will deal with every one of them: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes…” (Revelation 21:4).

Verses 8–9: “Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.”

This is the turning point of the psalm, and it arrives suddenly. David speaks with fresh boldness, and the reason is simple: “the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.” His tears had a voice, and God was listening to it. He repeats it for emphasis: the LORD has heard his supplication [earnest, humble request], and the LORD will receive his prayer. Elsewhere David writes, “…put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” (Psalm 56:8). Not one tear is lost on God. David’s circumstances have not visibly changed yet, but his certainty has, and that certainty changes everything.

Carrying this forward

If the Lord has already brought you through a season of sorrow, take time to remember that night. Remember the soaked pillow, the unfinished prayers, and the moment you knew you had been heard. It is easy to forget once the heaviness lifts and life gets busy again, and many of us slowly drift from the closeness we had with Him in the dark. Keep your focus on the One who carried you. Your remembered night may also be the very thing that helps someone else through theirs, for God “…comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).

If you are in the middle of it now, and the nights are long and the tears will not stop, you do not need the right words. David could not finish his own sentence. Bring God the weeping itself, because He hears its voice. When we do not know how to pray, “…the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26). Your sorrow may not lift on the timetable you hope for, but you are not crying into an empty room. You are held in His hands through the whole night, and the night is not the end of the story: “…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).