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Psalm 6:2
Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint. LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
1For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments, upon the eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm by David. LORD, don’t rebuke me in your anger, neither discipline me in your wrath.
2Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint. LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
3My soul is also in great anguish. But you, LORD—how long?
4Return, LORD. Deliver my soul, and save me for your loving kindness’ sake.
Notice
Troubled bones make this plea for mercy bodily and concrete: David brings his failing strength to YHWH without softening how distressed he is.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What, if anything, in your experience helps you understand David’s words, “my bones are troubled”?
Write on thisWhat would you want to tell God between this verse’s plea for mercy and its plea for healing?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Jeremiah 17:14Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved; for you are my praise.Both prayers ask the LORD for healing, and Jeremiah adds an explicit declaration that healing rests with him.
Psalm 30:2LORD my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.Psalm 6 asks the LORD to heal; Psalm 30 recounts a cry to the LORD and healing received.
Hosea 6:1“Come! Let’s return to the LORD; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.Both passages turn to the LORD for healing; Hosea also speaks of returning to the one who has wounded.
Psalm 31:10For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away.Both psalms describe failing strength and distressed bones, while Psalm 31 names iniquity as the cause of strength failing.
John 12:40“He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and would turn, and I would heal …Both speak of divine healing, though John’s passage concerns blinded eyes and a hardened heart rather than troubled bones.
Psalm 41:3–4The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness.Psalm 6 pleads for the LORD’s healing amid bodily distress; Psalm 41 describes the LORD sustaining someone on a sickbed.
Deuteronomy 32:39“See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.David appeals to the LORD for healing, and Deuteronomy declares that the power to heal belongs to God.
Psalm 38:3There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.Both psalms describe distress in the bones; Psalm 38 makes an explicit connection to sin that Psalm 6:2 does not state.
Matthew 9:12When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.Both acknowledge bodily need: David asks for healing, while Jesus speaks of sick people needing a physician.
Numbers 12:13Moses cried to the LORD, saying, “Heal her, God, I beg you!”David and Moses both cry to God for healing, David for himself and Moses for someone else.
Job 33:19–21“He is chastened also with pain on his bed, with continual strife in his bones,Both passages locate suffering in the bones, with Job describing pain on a bed and Psalm 6 pleading for healing.
Genesis 20:17Abraham prayed to God. So God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, and they bore children.Both connect prayer to God with healing: David asks for it, while Abraham’s prayer is followed by others being healed.
Where this verse fits
Illness or diagnosis. chronic pain. anxiety or panic.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
You do not have to hide bodily weakness when you pray. David asks for mercy from within his distress; his troubled bones belong in his prayer to YHWH.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 6:2. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).