◄ Psalm 6:2 ►
Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am frail; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are in agony.
Study Bible
Be merciful to me, O LORD
This plea for mercy reflects a deep understanding of human dependence on God's grace. The psalmist acknowledges the need for divine compassion, a recurring theme throughout the Psalms. The use of "LORD" (YHWH) emphasizes a personal relationship with God, rooted in the covenantal promises given to Israel. This phrase echoes the cries for mercy found in other scriptures, such as Psalm 51:1 and Luke 18:13, where individuals seek God's forgiveness and favor. It highlights the character of God as merciful and compassionate, as seen in Exodus 34:6-7.

for I am frail
The acknowledgment of frailty underscores human vulnerability and the limitations of physical and spiritual strength. This phrase can be connected to the broader biblical theme of human weakness and the need for divine strength, as seen in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. The psalmist's admission of frailty is a humble recognition of the human condition post-Fall, where sin and mortality have left humanity in a state of need. It also reflects the cultural context of the ancient Near East, where life was often precarious and dependent on divine favor.

heal me, O LORD
The request for healing indicates a belief in God's power to restore both physical and spiritual well-being. Healing in the Old Testament often involves a return to wholeness and is associated with God's covenantal promises of blessing and life. This plea can be linked to other healing narratives in the Bible, such as the healing of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:5 and the numerous healings performed by Jesus in the New Testament, which demonstrate God's ongoing concern for human suffering and His power to overcome it.

for my bones are in agony
The mention of bones signifies deep, internal suffering, often used metaphorically in the Psalms to describe intense distress or fear (e.g., Psalm 31:10). In the ancient world, bones were considered the seat of strength and vitality, so their agony suggests a profound level of affliction. This phrase can be seen as a type of Christ, who experienced deep anguish in His own body, particularly in the events leading up to and during the crucifixion, fulfilling prophecies such as Isaiah 53:4-5. The psalmist's expression of physical and emotional pain invites readers to empathize with those who suffer and to seek God's intervention in times of distress.

Persons / Places / Events
1. David
The author of the psalm, traditionally believed to be King David, who often expressed his deep emotions and reliance on God through the psalms.

2. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant name of God, emphasizing His eternal presence and faithfulness to His people.

3. The Psalmist's Condition
The psalmist is in a state of physical and emotional distress, seeking God's mercy and healing.
Teaching Points
Understanding Our Frailty
Recognize that human frailty is a common experience, and it is appropriate to bring our weaknesses before God in prayer.

Seeking God's Mercy
Emphasize the importance of seeking God's mercy, acknowledging that He is compassionate and willing to heal and restore.

The Role of Prayer in Suffering
Encourage believers to use prayer as a means to express their pain and seek God's intervention in times of distress.

God's Healing Power
Trust in God's ability to heal not only physical ailments but also emotional and spiritual wounds.

Dependence on God
Highlight the necessity of depending on God in all circumstances, understanding that His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does recognizing our own frailty help us in our relationship with God?

2. In what ways can we seek God's mercy in our daily lives, especially during times of distress?

3. How can the example of David's prayer in Psalm 6:2 guide us in our own prayers during difficult times?

4. What connections can you find between the healing mentioned in Psalm 6:2 and the healing offered through Christ in the New Testament?

5. How can we encourage others who are experiencing physical or emotional agony to find hope and healing in God?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Psalm 38:3-8
This passage also describes a state of physical and emotional suffering, where the psalmist seeks God's mercy and healing.

Isaiah 53:5
This verse speaks of healing through the suffering of the Messiah, connecting the need for healing with the redemptive work of Christ.

Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus invites those who are weary and burdened to come to Him for rest, offering a New Testament perspective on finding relief in God.

2 Corinthians 12:9
Paul speaks of God's grace being sufficient in weakness, highlighting the theme of relying on God's strength in times of frailty.
Sermons
A Forcible PleaA. Symson B. D.Psalm 6:2
A Good Plea for the PenitentSir Richard Baker.Psalm 6:2
An Argument Taken from WeaknessA. Symson B. D.Psalm 6:2
Cure for the Soul's WeaknessThomas Spurgeon.Psalm 6:2
HealingP. B. Tower, M. A.Psalm 6:2
The Cry for MercyA. Symson.Psalm 6:2
A Cry to God, and its ResponseW. Forsyth Psalm 6:1-10
A Revengeful God the Creation of a Guilty ConscienceHomilistPsalm 6:1-10
A Song of SorrowA. Maclaren, D. D.Psalm 6:1-10
Angerless Reproof Often Quite EffectiveLife of Bishop John Selwyn.Psalm 6:1-10
Angry Chastening DeprecatedSir Richard Baker.Psalm 6:1-10
Deliverance from Sore TroubleC. Short Psalm 6:1-10
God's Anger Against SinA. Symson.Psalm 6:1-10
God's Anger TerriblePsalm 6:1-10
Great Afflictions, Greater ConsolationW. Forsyth Psalm 6:1-10
Night and Morning in the SoulW. Forsyth Psalm 6:1-10
Rebuke Combined with AngerSir Richard Baker.Psalm 6:1-10
Rebuke NeededSir Richard Baker.Psalm 6:1-10
The Anger of God as Pure as His MercyA. Symson.Psalm 6:1-10
The Cry of the PenitentWilliam Nicholson, D. D.Psalm 6:1-10
The Difference Between a Cross and a CurseA. Symson.Psalm 6:1-10
The Moan of a Saint, and the Mercy of His GodC. Clemance Psalm 6:1-10
The Penitent SuppliantJohn Donne.Psalm 6:1-10
The Prayer of the a Afflicted SoulA. Symson.Psalm 6:1-10
People
David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Affrighted, Agitated, Agony, Bones, Dismayed, Faint, Favour, Gracious, Heal, Languish, Languishing, Mercy, O, Pining, Tremble, Troubled, Vexed, Wasted, Weak, Withered
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 6:2

     5137   bones
     5298   doctors
     8306   mercifulness
     8358   weakness, physical

Psalm 6:1-7

     5831   depression

Psalm 6:2-3

     5782   agony

Psalm 6:2-4

     1055   God, grace and mercy
     8724   doubt, dealing with

Psalm 6:2-6

     5933   restlessness

Library
The Life of Mr. James Renwick.
Mr. James Renwick was born in the parish of Glencairn in Nithsdale, Feb. 15, 1662. His parents though not rich, yet were exemplary for piety. His father Andrew Renwick (a weaver to trade) and his mother Elizabeth Corsan, had several children before Mr. James, who died young; for which when his mother was pouring forth her motherly grief, her husband used to comfort her with declaring, that he was well satisfied to have children, whether they lived or died, young or old, providing they might be heirs …
John Howie—Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies)

Weep Not.
"Weine nicht!" "The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping."--Psalm 6:8. [3]B. Schmolk transl., Sarah Findlater, 1854 Weep not--Jesus lives on high, O sad and wearied one! If thou with the burden sigh, Of grief thou canst not shun, Trust Him still, Soon there will Roses in the thicket stand, Goshen smile in Egypt's land. Weep not--Jesus thinks of thee When all beside forget, And on thee so lovingly His faithfulness has set, That though all Ruin'd fall, Every thing on earth be shaken, Thou wilt …
Jane Borthwick—Hymns from the Land of Luther

Pleading for Mercy. Ps 6
 …
John Newton—Olney Hymns

"O Save Me for Thy Mercies' Sake. " --Ps. vi. 4
"O save me for thy mercies' sake."--Ps. vi. 4. Mercy alone can meet my case; For mercy, Lord, I cry;-- Jesus! Redeemer! show thy face In mercy, or I die. Save me, for none beside can save; At thy command I tread, With failing step, life's stormy wave; The wave goes o'er my head. I perish, and my doom were just; But wilt thou leave me? No: I hold Thee fast, my hope, my trust, I will not let Thee go. Still sure to me Thy promise stands, And ever must abide; Behold it written on Thy hands, And graven …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

Letters of St. Bernard
I To Malachy. 1141.[924] (Epistle 341.) To the venerable lord and most blessed father, Malachy, by the grace of God archbishop of the Irish, legate of the Apostolic See, Brother Bernard called to be abbot of Clairvaux, [desiring] to find grace with the Lord. 1. Amid the manifold anxieties and cares of my heart,[925] by the multitude of which my soul is sore vexed,[926] the brothers coming from a far country[927] that they may serve the Lord,[928] thy letter, and thy staff, they comfort …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

The Tears of the Penitent.
Adversity had taught David self-restraint, had braced his soul, had driven him to grasp firmly the hand of God. And prosperity had seemed for nearly twenty years but to perfect the lessons. Gratitude had followed deliverance, and the sunshine after the rain had brought out the fragrance of devotion and the blossoms of glad songs. A good man, and still more a man of David's age at the date of his great crime, seldom falls so low, unless there has been previous, perhaps unconscious, relaxation of the …
Alexander Maclaren—The Life of David

If Then to Sin, that Others May not Commit a Worse Sin...
21. If then to sin, that others may not commit a worse sin, either against us or against any, without doubt we ought not; it is to be considered in that which Lot did, whether it be an example which we ought to imitate, or rather one which we ought to avoid. For it seems meet to be more looked into and noted, that, when so horrible an evil from the most flagitious impiety of the Sodomites was impending over his guests, which he wished to ward off and was not able, to such a degree may even that just …
St. Augustine—Against Lying

Out of the Deep of Suffering and Sorrow.
Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul: I am come into deep waters; so that the floods run over me.--Ps. lxix. 1, 2. I am brought into so great trouble and misery: that I go mourning all the day long.--Ps. xxxviii. 6. The sorrows of my heart are enlarged: Oh! bring Thou me out of my distress.--Ps. xxv. 17. The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping: the Lord will receive my prayer.--Ps. vi. 8. In the multitude of the sorrows which I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed …
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep

Epistle xxxix. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria.
To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Gregory to Eulogius, &c. As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country (Prov. xxv. 25). But what can be good news to me, so far as concerns the behoof of holy Church, but to hear of the health and safety of your to me most sweet Holiness, who, from your perception of the light of truth, both illuminate the same Church with the word of preaching, and mould it to a better way by the example of your manners? As often, too, as I recall in …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Epistle xv. To George, Presbyter.
To George, Presbyter. Gregory to George, Presbyter, and to Theodore, deacon, of the Church of Constantinople. Mindful of your goodness and charity, I greatly blame myself, that I gave you leave to return so soon: but, since I saw you pressing me importunately once and again for leave to go, I considered that it might be a serious matter for your Love to tarry with us longer. But, after I had learnt that you had lingered so long on your journey owing to the winter season, I confess that I was sorry …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Epistle Xlvi. To Isacius, Bishop of Jerusalem .
To Isacius, Bishop of Jerusalem [159] . Gregory to Isacius, &c. In keeping with the truth of history, what means the fact that at the time of the flood the human race outside the ark dies, but within the ark is preserved unto life, but what we see plainly now, namely that all the unfaithful perish under the wave of their sin, while the unity of holy Church, like the compactness of the ark, keeps her faithful ones in faith and in charity? And this ark in truth is compacted of incorruptible timber, …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Rules to be Observed in Singing of Psalms.
1. Beware of singing divine psalms for an ordinary recreation, as do men of impure spirits, who sing holy psalms intermingled with profane ballads: They are God's word: take them not in thy mouth in vain. 2. Remember to sing David's psalms with David's spirit (Matt. xxii. 43.) 3. Practise St. Paul's rule--"I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the understanding also." (1 Cor. xiv. 15.) 4. As you sing uncover your heads (1 Cor. xi. 4), and behave yourselves in comely reverence as in the …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Motives to Holy Mourning
Let me exhort Christians to holy mourning. I now persuade to such a mourning as will prepare the soul for blessedness. Oh that our hearts were spiritual limbecs, distilling the water of holy tears! Christ's doves weep. They that escape shall be like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity' (Ezekiel 7:16). There are several divine motives to holy mourning: 1 Tears cannot be put to a better use. If you weep for outward losses, you lose your tears. It is like a shower …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Epistle Lxiv. To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli .
To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli [174] . Here begins the epistle of the blessed Gregory pope of the city of Rome, in exposition of various matters, which he sent into transmarine Saxony to Augustine, whom he had himself sent in his own stead to preach. Preface.--Through my most beloved son Laurentius, the presbyter, and Peter the monk, I received thy Fraternity's letter, in which thou hast been at pains to question me on many points. But, inasmuch as my aforesaid sons found me afflicted with the …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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