TRV
Translation
King James Version
I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
Complete Jewish Bible
I am worn out with groaning; all night I drench my bed with tears, flooding my couch till it swims.
Berean Standard Bible
I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
American Standard Version
I am weary with my groaning; Every night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
World English Bible Messianic
I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears.
Geneva Bible (1599)
I fainted in my mourning: I cause my bed euery night to swimme, and water my couch with my teares.
Young's Literal Translation
I have been weary with my sighing, I meditate through all the night on my bed, With my tear my couch I waste.
In the KJVVerse 13,992 of 31,102
Study This Verse
Commentary on Psalms 6 verses 1–7
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.
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,
I. The representation he makes to God of his grievances. He pours out his complaint before him. Whither else should a child go with his complaints, but to his father? 1. He complains of bodily pain and sickness (Psa 6:2): My bones are vexed. His bones and his flesh, like Job's, were touched. Though David was a king, yet he was sick and pained; his imperial crown could not keep his head from aching. Great men are men, and subject to the common calamities of human life. Though David was a stout man, a man of war from his youth, yet this could not secure him from distempers, which will soon make even the strong men to bow themselves. Though David was a good man, yet neither could his goodness keep him in health. Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. Let this help to reconcile us to pain and sickness, that it has been the lot of some of the best saints, and that we are directed and encouraged by their example to show before God our trouble in that case, who is for the body, and takes cognizance of its ailments. 2. He complains of inward trouble: My soul is also sorely vexed; and that is much more grievous than the vexation of the bones. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, if that be in good plight; but, if that be wounded, the grievance is intolerable. David's sickness brought his sin to his remembrance, and he looked upon it as a token of God's displeasure against him; that was the vexation of his soul; that made him cry, I am weak, heal me. It is a sad thing for a man to have his bones and his soul vexed at the same time; but this has been sometimes the lot of God's own people: nay, and this completed his complicated trouble, that it was continued upon him a great while, which is here intimated in that expostulation (Psa 6:3), Thou, O Lord! how long? To the living God we must, at such a time, address ourselves, who is the only physician both of body and mind, and not to the Assyrians, not to the god of Ekron.
II. The impression which his troubles made upon him. They lay very heavily; he groaned till he was weary, wept till he made his bed to swim, and watered his couch (Psa 6:6), wept till he had almost wept his eyes out (Psa 6:7): My eye is consumed because of grief. David had more courage and consideration than to mourn thus for any outward affliction; but, when sin sat heavily upon his conscience and he was made to possess his iniquities, when his soul was wounded with the sense of God's wrath and his withdrawings from him, then he thus grieves and mourns in secret, and even his soul refuses to be comforted. This not only kept his eyes waking, but kept his eyes weeping. Note, 1. It has often been the lot of the best of men to be men of sorrows; our Lord Jesus himself was so. Our way lies through a vale of tears, and we must accommodate ourselves to the temper of the climate. 2. It well becomes the greatest spirits to be tender, and to relent, under the tokens of God's displeasure. David, who could face Goliath himself and many another threatening enemy with an undaunted bravery, yet melts into tears at the remembrance of sin and under the apprehensions of divine wrath; and it was no diminution at all to his character to do so. 3. True penitents weep in their retirements. The Pharisees disguised their faces, that they might appear unto men to mourn; but David mourned in the night upon the bed where he lay communing with his own heart, and no eye was a witness to his grief, but the eye of him who is all eye. Peter went out, covered his face, and wept. 4. Sorrow for sin ought to be great sorrow; so David's was; he wept so bitterly, so abundantly, that he watered his couch. 5. The triumphs of wicked men in the sorrows of the saints add very much to their grief. David's eye waxed old because of his enemies, who rejoiced in his afflictions and put bad constructions upon his tears. In this great sorrow David was a type of Christ, who often wept, and who cried out, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, Heb 5:7.
III. The petitions which he offers up to God in this sorrowful and distressed state. 1. That which he dreads as the greatest evil is the anger of God. This was the wormwood and the gall in the affliction and the misery; it was the infusion of this that made it indeed a bitter cup; and therefore he prays (Psa 6:1), O Lord! rebuke me not in thy anger, though I have deserved it, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. He does not pray, "Lord, rebuke me not; Lord, chasten me not;" for, as many as God loves he rebukes and chastens, as a father the son in whom he delights. He can bear the rebuke and chastening well enough if God, at the same time, lift up the light of his countenance upon him and by his Spirit make him to hear the joy and gladness of his loving-kindness; the affliction of his body will be tolerable if he have but comfort in his soul. No matter though sickness make his bones ache, if God's wrath do not make his heart ache; therefore his prayer is, "Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath; let me not lie under the impressions of that, for that will sink me." Herein David was a type of Christ, whose sorest complaint, in his sufferings, was of the trouble of his soul and of the suspension of his Father's smiles. He never so much as whispered a complaint of the rage of his enemies - "Why do they crucify me?" or the unkindness of his friends - "Why do they desert me?" But he cried with a loud voice, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Let us thus deprecate the wrath of God more than any outward trouble whatsoever and always beware of treasuring up wrath against a day of affliction. 2. That which he desires as the greatest good, and which would be to him the restoration of all good, is the favour and friendship of God. He prays, (1.) That God would pity him and look upon him with compassion. He thinks himself very miserable, and misery is the proper object of mercy. Hence he prays, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord! in wrath remember mercy, and deal not with me in strict justice." (2.) That God would pardon his sins; for that is the proper act of mercy, and is often chiefly intended in that petition, Have mercy upon me. (3.) That God would put forth his power for his relief: "Lord, heal me (Psa 6:2), save me (Psa 6:4), speak the word, and I shall be whole, and all will be well." (4.) That he would be at peace with him: "Return, O Lord! receive me into thy favour again, and be reconciled to me. Thou hast seemed to depart from me and neglect me, nay, to set thyself at a distance, as one angry; but now, Lord, return and show thyself nigh to me." (5.) That he would especially preserve the inward man and the interests of that, whatever might become of the body: "O Lord! deliver my soul from sinning, from sinking, from perishing for ever." It is an unspeakable privilege that we have a God to go to in our afflictions, and it is our duty to go to him, and thus to wrestle with him, and we shall not seek in vain.
IV. The pleas with which he enforces his petitions, not to move God (he knows our cause and the true merits of it better than we can state them), but to move himself. 1. He pleads God's mercy; and thence we take some of our best encouragements in prayer: Save me, for thy mercies' sake. 3. He pleads God's glory (Psa 6:5): "For in death there is no remembrance of thee. Lord, if thou deliver me and comfort me, I will not only give thee thanks for my deliverance, and stir up others to join with me in these thanksgivings, but I will spend the new life thou shalt entrust me with in thy service and to thy glory, and all the remainder of my days I will preserve a grateful remembrance of thy favours to me, and be quickened thereby in all instances of service to thee; but, if I die, I shall be cut short of that opportunity of honouring thee and doing good to others, for in the grave who will give the thanks?" Not but that separate souls live and act, and the souls of the faithful joyfully remember God and give thanks to him. But, (1.) In the second death (which perhaps David, being now troubled in soul under the wrath of God, had some dreadful apprehensions of) there is no pleasing remembrance of God; devils and damned spirits blaspheme him and do not praise him. "Lord, let me not lie always under this wrath, for that is sheol, it is hell itself, and lays me under an everlasting disability to praise thee." Those that sincerely seek God's glory, and desire and delight to praise him, may pray in faith, "Lord, send me not to that dreadful place, where there is no devout remembrance of thee, nor are any thanks given to thee." (2.) Even the death of the body puts an end to our opportunity and capacity of glorifying God in this world, and serving the interests of his kingdom among men by opposing the powers of darkness and bringing many on this earth to know God and devote themselves to him. Some have maintained that the joys of the saints in heaven are more desirable, infinitely more so, than the comforts of saints on earth; yet the services of saints on earth, especially such eminent ones as David was, are more laudable, and redound more to the glory of the divine grace, than the services of the saints in heaven, who are not employed in maintaining the war against sin and Satan, nor in edifying the body of Christ. Courtiers in the royal presence are most happy, but soldiers in the field are more useful; and therefore we may, with good reason, pray that if it be the will of God, and he has any further work for us or our friends to do in this world, he will yet spare us, or them, to serve him. To depart and be with Christ is most happy for the saints themselves; but for them to abide in the flesh is more profitable for the church. This David had an eye to when he pleaded this, In the grave who shall give thee thanks? Psa 30:9; Psa 88:10; Psa 115:17; Isa 38:18. And this Christ had an eye to when he said, I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world.
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.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 1–7. Public domain.
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John ChrysostomAD 407
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 6:4
Let those who have beds of silver listen to what the bed of the king was like: not jewel-encrusted or gilt but washed with tears. His were not nights of repose but nights of mourning and lamenting. Many cares would beset him at night, a time that all people devote to rest but that he would devote to confession, lamenting the more earnestly then. You see, while it is always good to weep, it is particularly so at night, when no one resists this wonderful experience, but given good will one is able to give free rein to it. Those who have tried what I speak of know the great elation stemming from such a flood of tears. Tears like this can extinguish an unquenchable fire, can stem the flood sweeping us to our condemnation. Hence Paul too wept night and day for three years, correcting unnatural passions. Far from correcting our own, we give ourselves over to merriment and indulgence and bury the night in utter stupor. Some are sunk in a sleep resembling death, while others pass sleepless nights more dire than death, devising fraud and usury and other schemes at that time. Not so are sober people, tending their souls’ welfare, applying their tears like a shower, promoting the growth of virtue. The bed that receives tears like that gives no access to any evil or licentiousness. The person who sheds such tears places no value on things of the earth and instead frees the soul from any siege, rendering the mind clearer than the sun. Do not think I am directing these remarks only to monks; in fact, the exhortation is for people in the world as well, and for them more than the others, they after all being in particular need of the remedy of repentance. The one uttering groans like this will rise with spirit in better condition than a calm haven, expelling every passion; such a one, filled with great joy, will approach the house of God in confidence, will converse with neighbors pleasantly, no anger lurking within, after all no lust inflamed, no hankering after possessions, no envy, nothing else of this kind. All these passions, you see, like savage beasts lurking in their dens, those groans and tears in the night succeeded in taming.
Augustine of HippoAD 430
Exposition on Psalm 6
Wherefore he goes on to say, "I have laboured in my groaning." And as if this availed but little, he adds, "I will wash each night my couch" [Psalm 6:6]. That is here called a couch, where the sick and weak soul rests, that is, in bodily gratification and in every worldly pleasure. Which pleasure, whoso endeavours to withdraw himself from it, washes with tears. For he sees that he already condemns carnal lusts; and yet his weakness is held by the pleasure, and willingly lies down therein, from whence none but the soul that is made whole can rise. As for what he says, "each night," he would perhaps have it taken thus: that he who, ready in spirit, perceives some light of truth, and yet, through weakness of the flesh, rests sometime in the pleasure of this world, is compelled to suffer as it were days and nights in an alternation of feeling: as when he says, "With the mind I serve the law of God," he feels as it were day; again when he says, "but with the flesh the law of sin," [Romans 7:25] he declines into night: until all night passes away, and that one day comes, of which it is said, "In the morning I will stand by You, and will see." For then he will stand, but now he lies down, when he is on his couch; which he will wash each night, that with so great abundance of tears he may obtain the most assured remedy from the mercy of God. "I will drench my bed with tears." It is a repetition. For when he says, "with tears," he shows with what meaning he said above, "I will wash." For we take "bed" here to be the same as "couch" above. Although, "I will drench," is something more than, "I will wash:" since anything may be washed superficially, but drenching penetrates to the more inward parts; which here signifies weeping to the very bottom of the heart. Now the variety of tenses which he uses; the past, when he said, "I have laboured in my groaning;" and the future, when he said, "I will wash each night my couch;" the future again, "I will drench my bed with tears;" this shows what every man ought to say to himself, when he labours in groaning to no purpose. As if he should say, It has not profited when I have done this, therefore I will do the other.
Paulinus of NolaAD 431
POEMS 31:407
My heart of stone has no tears to summon.… Delicacies are my pleasure while my soul goes hungry. Who could furnish me with a spring for streams of tears, so that I might lament my deeds and days? For I need a river to lament the heavy strokes that I deserve for a life spent in sin. Break the stone that is my heart, saving Jesus, so that the inner me may be softened and a stream of devotion pour forth.
Leo the GreatAD 461
SERMON 35:4
In hell there is no amendment. No means of satisfaction can be given where no act of the will remains any longer, as David says in prophecy: “Since in death there is no one who remembers you, who will give you thanks in hell?” Let us flee harmful pleasures, dangerous joys and desires that perish right away. What fruit is there, what use is there, in wanting these things incessantly, things that we must abandon even if they do not abandon us? Let the love of ephemeral things be transferred to incorruptible ones. Let hearts called to lofty things find their enjoyment in heavenly delights.
Caesarius of ArlesAD 542
SERMON 65:2
Perhaps someone thinks that he has committed such grievous sins that he is beyond God’s mercy. Let this be far from the thoughts of all sinners. Whoever you are, O man, you look at the multitude of your sins and do not see the almighty power of the divine Physician. Although God would like to show mercy because he is good, and he can because he is omnipotent, a person closes the door of divine mercy to his soul when he believes that God is either unwilling or unable to have pity on him. He does not believe that God is good or almighty. No one should despair of divine mercy after a hundred sins, nor even after a thousand. Rather, he should show his confidence by hastening to regain God’s favor without any delay.… David, who through divine mercy became both a king and a prophet, … was overtaken to such an extent that he committed both adultery and murder. However, he did not wait to take refuge in the healing of repentance in his old age. Immediately covering himself with a hairshirt and sprinkling his head with ashes, he repented with loud groaning and lamenting. Thus was fulfilled what he had said in the psalms: “Every night I will wash my bed; I will water my couch with my tears.”
Isaac of NinevehAD 700
ASCETICAL HOMILIES 75
Prayer offered up at night possesses a great power, more so than the prayer of the day-time. Therefore all the righteous prayed during the night, while combating the heaviness of the body and the sweetness of sleep and repelling corporeal nature.… And for every entreaty for which they urgently besought God, they armed themselves with the prayer of night vigil, and at once they received their request.
John DamasceneAD 749
BARLAAM AND JOSEPH 11:97-98
So from all these and many other examples beyond count we learn the virtue of tears and repentance. Only the manner thereof must be noted—it must arise from a heart that hates sin and weeps, as the prophet David says.… Again the cleansing of sins will be wrought by the blood of Christ, in the greatness of his compassion and the multitude of the mercies of that God who says, “Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow.”
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 6:6 is a poignant lament from the psalmist, King David, expressing an overwhelming depth of personal anguish, sorrow, and physical exhaustion. Through vivid hyperbole, the verse paints a picture of incessant weeping throughout the night, so profuse that his tears metaphorically saturate his sleeping place, underscoring an inconsolable grief that consumes his entire being and robs him of rest.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The verse is a masterclass in conveying profound emotional distress through poetic language, primarily employing Hyperbole. The exaggeration of tears making a "bed to swim" or "watering a couch" is not meant to be taken literally but to amplify the overwhelming nature of the psalmist's grief and the sheer volume of his weeping. This hyperbole creates a powerful and memorable image of inconsolable sorrow. Accompanying this is striking Imagery and Metaphor, where the abstract concept of sorrow is made tangible through the physical manifestation of tears and their impact on the environment. The "bed" and "couch" become metaphors for the psalmist's private space of suffering. There is also a subtle use of Parallelism in the repetition of the idea of tears saturating the sleeping place, reinforcing the central theme of ceaseless lament.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 6:6 offers profound theological insights into the nature of human suffering and God's relationship with His people. It validates the raw, unvarnished expression of pain and despair before God, demonstrating that faith does not preclude deep anguish. The psalmist's lament is not a sign of weak faith but an act of profound trust, believing that God is attentive even to the most desperate cries. This verse affirms that God is not distant or indifferent to our sorrow; rather, He invites us to bring our whole selves, including our tears and exhaustion, into His presence. It speaks to the divine empathy that understands and acknowledges the physical and emotional toll of suffering.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 6:6 serves as a powerful reminder that the Christian life is not immune to profound sorrow, exhaustion, and despair. It grants us permission to be utterly honest with God about the depth of our pain, validating the raw human experience of grief. In a world that often pressures us to "be strong" or "have it all together," David's lament encourages us to lay bare our weariness, our groaning, and our tears before the Lord. This verse teaches us that true spiritual strength often begins with acknowledging our weakness and vulnerability before a God who is both mighty and compassionate. It invites us to trust that even when our "bed swims with tears," God is present, hearing our cries, and collecting our tears, preparing to bring comfort and deliverance in His perfect timing. Our lament is a form of prayer, a desperate plea that ultimately expresses dependence on the only One who can truly sustain us through the night.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Is it acceptable for a believer to feel such deep despair and exhaustion, as expressed in this verse?
Answer: Absolutely. Psalms 6:6, along with many other passages in the Psalms and throughout Scripture, unequivocally validates the experience of profound despair, grief, and physical exhaustion among believers. The Bible does not present a sanitized version of faith that is devoid of suffering; rather, it provides a sacred space for the full spectrum of human emotion, including lament, sorrow, and even despair. David's honest outpouring here, and elsewhere (e.g., Psalm 42:3, where he states his tears have been his food day and night), demonstrates that expressing such feelings to God is a legitimate and vital aspect of a healthy relationship with Him. God is not intimidated by our raw emotions; He invites us to bring them all to Him, knowing He is a God who understands and empathizes with our weaknesses, as affirmed in Hebrews 4:15.
What does the imagery of God "collecting our tears" mean in relation to the psalmist's weeping?
Answer: The imagery of God "collecting our tears" comes from Psalm 56:8, where the psalmist says, "You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?" This powerful metaphor signifies God's intimate knowledge, compassionate attention, and meticulous remembrance of every sorrow, every moment of suffering, and every tear shed by His children. It means that no tear goes unnoticed by God; He values our pain and grief so much that He figuratively collects and records them. This provides immense comfort and assurance that our suffering is not in vain or forgotten but is seen, acknowledged, and held by a loving and attentive Heavenly Father. It transforms private anguish into a sacred offering, known and cherished by God.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
While Psalms 6:6 profoundly articulates the human experience of suffering, its ultimate fulfillment and deepest meaning are found in Jesus Christ. The psalmist's weariness, groaning, and tears foreshadow the unparalleled anguish of the Son of God, who truly became a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," as prophesied in Isaiah 53:3. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus experienced an agony so intense that His sweat became "like great drops of blood falling to the ground," as recorded in Luke 22:44, a physical manifestation of soul-deep groaning far beyond what any human could endure. He wept at the tomb of Lazarus, as recounted in John 11:35, demonstrating divine empathy with human sorrow. On the cross, He bore the ultimate burden of sin, experiencing separation from God and a suffering that made His "bed to swim" with the tears of humanity's sin and sorrow. Jesus, our Great High Priest, is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, for He was tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin, as we learn from Hebrews 4:15. Thus, the psalmist's lament finds its perfect echo and redemptive answer in Christ, who not only experienced the depths of human anguish but conquered it, offering comfort, deliverance, and eternal hope to all who groan under the weight of this fallen world.