Psalms 6:1-10
1 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.
VI. A Righteous Man's Prayer in Distress. (a) Notice (Psalms 6:1) the recognition of the fact that suffering is not always the proof of guilt and of God's wrath. Sometimes it is sent to prove, correct, and purify the righteous. So here 1, Psalms 66:8; Job 6:17, and especially Proverbs 3:11 f.*
(b) Reward or penalty, if they come at all, must, according to the general teaching of the Psalter, come in this life; the life beyond the grave is scarcely worthy of the name. The dead are gathered together in the subterranean pit of Sheol. They are cut off from the light of the world, and above all, from the light of God's presence and from communion with Him. See Psalms 30:9; Psalms 88:10; Psalms 115:17; Isaiah 38:18.
(c) Yahweh has heard the Psalmist's prayer and will grant it still more by defeating his enemies (Psalms 6:8).