
Psalms 5:1-6:12
5:1 | Give ear to my words is an earnest plea for God to hear the poet’s utterances.
5:5 | Workers of iniquity are those who make a practice of evil. This is not a reference to occasional sin but to a habitual, unrepentant life of sin.
5:8 | Guidance is the main petition of this prayer. The right way – never easy to discern – is even more difficult for the psalmist because of my enemies. They lie in wait, to lead astray to do harm. Conflict is constant between those who try to follow God’s way and those who prefer to ignore it. Make your way straight asks God to make His will discernable.
5:9 | Open tomb depicts the murderous efficiency and deadly results of the words of the psalmist’s enemies (Jer. 5:16; Rom. 3:13).
6:1-3 | Psalm 6 is the first of the penitential psalms. David prays the words of this psalm when he is deeply troubled by something, possibly an illness that his own sin may have caused. Mercy in this situation is not deserved but urgently needed. My bones and my soul represent the whole person.
6:4 | The word translated mercies describes the deeply significant, loyal love of God (Gen. 39:21; Ex. 20:6, 34:6-7). Without God, humanity is in a terrible place, miserable and without hope. Yet God cares intensely and reaches out to rescue every single person who asks. Many psalms use this word to describe why God is worthy of praise.
6:6-7 | Weary pictures the psalmist’s anguish over immediate danger and the prospect of an untimely death. It may also imply a long period of suffering. Wastes away describes the psalmist at the end of his resources. He is spent beyond recovery with no earthly means of help left.