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Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am frail; Heal me, Lord, for my bones are horrified.
Psalms 6:2 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am faint. Yahweh, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
  • KJV Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
  • BSB Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am frail; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are in agony.
  • NKJV Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
  • NLT Have compassion on me, Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

David cries for mercy and healing, for he is weak and his very bones are troubled. He brings his physical and spiritual distress to God.

Overview

David's suffering reaches body and soul; he is faint and his bones, the frame of his being, are in turmoil. His only recourse is to plead for the Lord's mercy and healing. This honest cry models bringing our weakness to God, who is the true healer of body and soul, ultimately through the saving work of Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 19

  • Hos 6:1“Come, and let us return to Yahweh; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.
  • Ps 30:2Yahweh my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.
  • Ps 31:10For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away.
  • Jer 17:14Heal me, O Yahweh, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for you are my praise.
  • Ps 41:3–4Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness.
  • Deut 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.
  • Ps 51:8Let me hear joy and gladness, That the bones which you have broken may rejoice.
  • Job 33:19–21He is chastened also with pain on his bed, with continual strife in his bones;
  • Ps 38:7For my waist is filled with burning. There is no soundness in my flesh.
  • Ps 38:3There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.
  • Gen 20:17Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his female servants, and they bore children.
  • Num 12:13Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “Heal her, God, I beg you!”
  • Ps 32:3When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
  • Matt 4:24The report about him went out into all Syria. They brought to him all who were sick, afflicted with various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, epileptics, and paralytics; and he healed them.
  • Job 5:18For he wounds, and binds up. He injures, and his hands make whole.
  • Exod 15:26and he said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you.”
  • Ps 22:14I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted within me.
  • Ps 103:13–17Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.
  • Job 19:21“Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 6:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.

How Psalms 6:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.