I had not realized the similarities between Psalms 6/13 until I came across a hymn written by Isaac Watts entitled Ps.13. Psalm 6, in which he combines the two psalms with the linchpin phrase, “How long, O Lord?” Sojourn Music wrote a “blues rendition” of Psalm 13, in which liberties were taken with the text, but conveys the anguished pleas of David, as he waited for Yahwah to deliver him. After my commentary, I have included both Watts’ hymn as well as a link to the song beneath Watts’ hymn. (I apologize for the brief commercial before the video begins.)

Both Psalm 6 and Psalm 13 are pleas to Yahwah by David to deliver him from his adversaries because of whom he is suffering physically and spiritually. The bedrock on which David bases his ultimate plea to save his life and deliver him from death is Yahwah’s steadfast, loyal love – hesed/חסד. David realizes that he is a sinner who is worthy of chastisement and punishment; yet, he prays for the grace of healing, restoration, and forgiveness [Rafah/ רפא contains all three concepts] that can only be the product of Yahwah’s hesed, which is both his salvation (Ps. 6:6) and his joy (Ps. 13:6).

Psalm 6 [Translated by LOC]

David is explicit in his enumeration before Yahwah in what ways he is hurting:

– his bones are ‘terrified’/bahal ( (בהל(Ps. 6:4) – a fear that goes to the very marrow;

– he has fatigued himself with sighing (Ps. 6:7) – an indication that David, in his heart, was constantly complaining to Yahwah, being impatient with His purpose and timing. This impatient and distrustful attitude spills over into gushing tears of anxiety, fear, and possibly grief (cf. Ps. 13:3) over the rebellion of his son, Absalom;

– his eye dims, grows weak from vexation (Ps. 6:8) [the noun ‘vexation’ comes from a powerful verb, the meanings of which extend from ‘vexed,’ ‘irritated,’ ‘provoked,’ ‘angry,’ to the transitive (Hiphil) ‘to grieve.’ The noun can also mean ‘grief.’ (Without having done an exhaustive word study of the word ‘kha’as’/כעס, the connotation would seem to be ‘to grieve’ in the sense of ‘to pain deeply’ due to one’s actions. – David recognizes that he has allowed his perception of his circumstances to be distorted by his attitude of kha’as, which, ipso facto, is directed toward Yahwah, Who, as he rallies himself to realize, does hear him and will repay all his enemies with the same terror ) bahal/(בהל )Ps. 6:11) that he had experienced.

– he fears his enemy will overcome him and that his adversaries will rejoice because he stumbles (Ps. 13:5). – David expresses his fear of death (Ps. 6:6, 13:5), which in Ps. 13 he links with his enemy and his adversaries, first, because only alive can he commune with Yahwah, and secondly, if David, a man after God’s own heart, is not victorious, Yahwah will be ridiculed as powerless to save His beloved. [A note on ‘adversaries’: In Ps. 6:8, David uses a parallel phrase concerning the ‘eye’ by saying that his (‘eye,’ understood from the feminine pronoun ending on the verb) “grows old in all my distress.” Some Hebrew manuscripts hold to this latter reading (עתקה בכל-צרת‘), whereas others, such as the Bomberg/Ginsburg edition of the Old Testament, with which the 19^th century Hebraist, Franz Delitzsch, and Koehler & Baumgartner agree, hold to the reading “on account of all my adversaries (צורר).]

– Just as David realizes that his vexatious attitude has distorted his perception, but then realizes that Yahwah has heard his pleas, so in Ps. 13:6, after having prayed for Yahwah to “enlighten my eyes” (v. 5), he bursts into a song of praise, confessing his reliance on Yahwah’s hesed, through which he rejoices in Yahwah’s salvation. Yahwah answered David’s prayer to perceive correctly again that Yahwah “has shown [good]” to him. Finally, the question that he had posed, so aptly linking the two psalms together, as he longs to be revived in both his spirit and body – “How long, O Yahwah,” – David himself answers, “Your hesed is sufficient.”

Below is Watts’ hymn:

Lord, I can suffer thy rebukes,
When thou with kindness dost chastise;
But thy fierce wrath I cannot bear:
O let it not against me rise.

Pity my languishing estate,
And ease the sorrows that I feel;
The wounds thine heavy hand hath made,
O let thy gentler touches heal!

See how I pass my weary days
In sighs and groans; and when ’tis night
My bed is watered with my tears;
My grief consumes, and dims my sight.

Look, how the powers of nature mourn!
How long, Almighty God, how long?
When shall thine hour of grace return?
When shall I make thy grace my song?

I feel my flesh so near the grave,
My thoughts are tempted to despair;
But graves can never praise the Lord,
For all is dust and silence there.

Depart, ye tempters, from my soul,
And all despairing thoughts, depart;
My God, who hears my humble moan,
Will ease my flesh, and cheer my heart.