Psalms 6:7

Psa 6:7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.

Ver. 7. Mine eye is consumed] Heb. gnawn, moth eaten. That eye of his that had looked and lusted after his neighbour’s wife is now dimmed and darkened with grief and indignation, he had wept himself almost blind; as it is stated of Faustus, the son of King Vortigern by his own daughter, that he wept himself stark blind for the abominable incest of his parents (Prideaux’s Introduct. to Hist. p. 289).

It waxeth old] Or, Is sunk in my head. Doth not do its office, but is become like an old dusty window that lets in little light. A heavy affliction to those whose eyes have been loop holes of lust and windows of wickedness, the remembrance whereof is a thorn to their blind eyes, and puts them to grievous pain, especially when their enemies shall have got it by the end, as David’s had his ill pranks, and spared not to lay it in his dish.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. (Psa 6:7). Mine eye has failed, grown dim, a common symptom both of mental and bodily distress, from vexation, not mere grief, but grief mixed with indignation at my enemies. It has grown old, dim like the eye of an old man, a still stronger expression of the same idea, in (the midst of) all my enemies, or in (consequence of) all my enemies, i. e. of their vexatious conduct. Compare Psa 31:10 (9). In these two verses he resumes the description of his own distress, in order to shew that the argument in ver. Psa 6:6 (5) was appropriate to his case, as that of one drawing near to death, and therefore likely soon to lose the capacity and opportunity of praising God.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, mine eye is eaten as it were with worms.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

consumed--or, "has failed," denoting general debility (Psa 13:3; Psa 38:10).

waxeth old--or, "dim."

grief--mingled with indignation.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. Mine eye is consumed] עששה asheshah, is blasted, withered, sunk in my head.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(7) Consumed—i.e., sunken; literally, fallen away. The LXX. use the same word employed to render vexed in Psa_6:2. Grief has brought the signs of premature age (Job_17:7; Psa_31:9, and Note there). (See Homer’s Odyssey, xix. 360, “Quickly do mortals grow old from trouble.”)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. Mine eye Is wasted away because of provocation;

It is waxed old because of all mine adversaries.

With the first clause comp. Psa_31:9. The look of the eye is a sure indication of the state of health, mental and bodily. The word rendered adversaries means literally them that distress me. Cp. Psa_7:4; Psa_7:6; and the cognate words in Psa_3:1, Psa_4:1.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mine eye is consumed because of grief,.... Either by reason of the affliction he laboured under, which could not he joyous, but grievous; or because, of the sin that was in him, and those that he had committed, which were grieving to him; or through the sins of other professors of religion, or profane sinners, whom he beheld with grief of heart and weeping eyes: the word (f) used signifies anger and indignation, and sorrow arising from thence, and may denote either indignation in himself at his enemies, who were rejoicing at his calamities; or the sense he had of the anger of God, and his hot displeasure, which he feared he was rebuking and chastening him with; and now his heart being filled with grief on one or other of these accounts, or all of them, vented itself in floods of tears, which hurt the visive faculty; for through much weeping the eye is weakened and becomes dim; and through a multitude of tears, and a long continuance of them, it fails; see Job 17:7;

it waxeth old because of all mine enemies; saints have many enemies, sin, Satan, and the world; and these are very oppressive ones, as the word (g) here signifies; such as beset them about, straiten them on all hands, and press them sore; and they must be pressed down by them, were it not that he that is in them is greater than he that is in the world; and David's enemies gave him so much trouble, and caused him to shed such plenty of tears, that his eye waxed old, was shrunk up, and beset with wrinkles, the signs of old age; or it was removed out of its place, as the word is rendered in Job 18:4; or the sight was removed from that, it was gone from him, Psa 38:10.

(f) "prae ira", Pagninus; "prae indignatione", Montanus, Musculus; "ex indignatione", Piscator. (g) "angustiatores", Montanus; "angustiis afficientes me", Vatablus; "oppressores meos", Junius & Tremellius, Gejerus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mine eye is consumed - The word here rendered “consumed” - עשׁשׁ ‛âshêsh - means properly to fall in, to fall away, and is applied here to the “eye” as pining or wasting away from care, anxiety, and sorrow. Tears were poured forth from the eye, and it seemed to be exhausting itself in this manner. The meaning is, that it had grown “dim,” or that its sight began to fail, like that of an old man, on account of his troubles. Many have understood the word here rendered “eye” as referring to the “countenance;” but it is doubtful whether the word ever has this signification; and at any rate the common signification, referring it to the “eye,” best suits this connection.

It waxeth old - It seems to grow old; it experiences the effects commonly produced by age in blunting the power of vision. This is not an uncommon effect of grief and sadness. Even while I am writing this I am called in my pastoral visitations to attend on a young lady lying on a bed of languishing, and probably of death, one of whose symptoms is a quite diminished, and indeed almost total loss of vision, as the effect of trouble and disease.

Because of all mine enemies - From the trouble which they have brought upon me. The reference here, according to the interpretation proposed of the psalm, is to Absalom and those who were associated with him. Their conduct had been such as to bring upon David this overwhelming tide of sorrows.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Consumed; or, grown dim or dull, through plenty of salt tears which I shed; or through the decay of my spirits.

Because of grief, i.e. my grief arising from mine enemies, as the next clause interprets it, and from the consideration of their multitude, and rage, and falseness.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 7. I water my couch with my tears. Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all my enemies. As an old man's eye grows dim with years, so, says David, my eye is grown red and feeble through weeping. Conviction sometimes has such an effect upon the body, that even the outward organs are made to suffer. May not this explain some of the convulsions and hysterical attacks which have been experienced under convictions in the revivals in Ireland? Is it surprising that some souls be smitten to the earth, and begin to cry aloud; when we find that David himself made his bed to swim, and grew old while he was under the heavy hand of God? Ah! brethren, it is no light matter to feel one's self a sinner, condemned at the bar of God. The language of this Psalm is not strained and forced, but perfectly natural to one in so sad a plight.

Ver. 6-7. Soul-trouble is attended usually with great pain of body too, and so a man is wounded and distressed in every part. There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger, says David. "The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit." Job 6:4. Sorrow of heart contracts the natural spirits, making all their motions slow and feeble; and the poor afflicted body does usually decline and waste away; and, therefore, saith Heman, "My soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave." In this inward distress we find our strength decay and melt, even as wax before the fire; for sorrow darkeneth the spirits, obscures the judgment, blinds the memory, as to all pleasant things, and beclouds the lucid part of the mind, causing the lamp of life to burn weakly. In this troubled condition the person cannot be without a countenance that is pale, and wan, and dejected, like one that is seized with strong fear and consternation; all his motions are sluggish, and no sprightliness nor activity remains. A merry heart doth good, like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Hence come those frequent complaints in Scripture: My moisture is turned into the drought of the summer: I am like a bottle in the smoke; my soul cleaveth unto the dust: my face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelid is the shadow of death. Job 16:16, 30:17-19. "My bones are pierced in me, in the night seasons, and my sinews take no rest; by the great force of my disease is my garment changed. He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. Many times indeed the trouble of the soul does begin from the weakness and indisposition of the body. Long affliction, without any prospect of remedy, does, in process of time, begin to distress the soul itself. David was a man often exercised with sickness and the rage of enemies; and in all the instances almost that we meet with him in the Psalms, we may observe that the outward occasions of trouble brought him under an apprehension of the wrath of God for his sin. (Ps 6:1-2; and the reasons given, Ps 5-6.) All his griefs running into this most terrible thought, that God was his enemy. As little brooks lose themselves in a great river, and change their name and nature, it most frequently happens that when our pain is long and sharp, and helpless and unavoidable, we begin to question the sincerity of our estate toward God, though at its first assault we had few doubts or fears about it. Long weakness of body makes the soul more susceptible of trouble, and uneasy thoughts. Timothy Rogers on Trouble of Mind.

Ver. 7. Mine eye is consumed. Many make those eyes which God hath given them, as it were two lighted candles to let them see to go to hell; and for this God in justice requiteth them, seeing their minds are blinded by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, God, I say, sendeth sickness to debilitate their eyes which were so sharp-sighted in the devil's service, and their lust now causeth them to want the necessary sight of their body.

Ver. 7. Mine enemies. The pirates seeing an empty bark, pass by it; but if she be loaded with precious wares, then they will assault her. So, if a man have no grace within him, Satan passeth by him as not a convenient prey for him; but being loaded with graces, as the love of God, his fear, and such other spiritual virtues, let him be persuaded that according as he knows what stuff is in him, so will he not fail to rob him of them, if in any case he may, Archibald Symson.

Ver. 7. That eye of his that had looked and lusted after his neighbour's wife is now dimmed and darkened with grief and indignation. He has wept himself almost blind. John Trapp.

Ver. 7. The voice of weeping. What it is.

Ver. 8. Hitherto, all has been mournful and disconsolate, but now

"Your harps, ye trembling saints, Down from the willows take."

Ye must have your times of weeping, but let them be short. Get ye up, get ye up, from your dunghills! Cast aside your sackcloth and ashes! Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.<

David has found peace, and rising from his knees he begins to sweep his house of the wicked.

Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. The best remedy for us against an evil man is a long space between us both. "Get ye gone; I can have no fellowship with you." Repentance is a practical thing. It is not enough to bemoan the desecration of the temple of the heart, we must scourge out the buyers and sellers, and overturn the tables of the money changers. A pardoned sinner will hate the sins which cost the Saviour his blood. Grace and sin are quarrelsome neighbours, and one or the other must go to the wall.

For the Lord hath hear the voice of my weeping. What a fine Hebraism, and what grand poetry it is in English! "He hath heard the voice of my weeping." Is there a voice in weeping? Does weeping speak? In what language doth it utter its meaning? Why, in that universal tongue which is known and understood in all the earth, and even in heaven above. When a man weeps, whether he be a Jew or Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, it has the same meaning in it. Weeping is the eloquence of sorrow. It is an unstammering orator, needing no interpreter, but understood of all. Is it not sweet to believe that our tears are understood even when words fail? Let us learn to think of tears as liquid prayers, and of weeping as a constant dropping of importunate intercession which will wear its way right surely into the very heart of mercy, despite the stony difficulties which obstruct the way. My God, I will "weep" when I cannot plead, for thou hearest the voice of my weeping.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Mine eye is consumed… waxeth old—By reason of long continued suffering and weeping his eyes had grown languid, and dull, and sunken in the head, as in extreme age. He here finishes the picture of his sorrow, and as Calvin says, “They who know only in some small degree what it is to wrestle with the fear of eternal death, will find in these words no exaggeration.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mine eye is consumed because of grief; or, mine eye is wasted away because of provocation. The eye falls in, becomes dull, and, as it were, "wastes away" through long-continued grief. (comp. Psa_31:9) The kind of grief expressed by the word ka"as (sk) is "that which arises from provocation or spiteful treatment" (Kay). It waxeth old because of all mine enemies. It becomes dull and heavy and sunken, like the eye of an old man. How often has it not been noted that nothing so much ages a man as grief!

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

every night I sully my bed Heb. אשׂחה an expression of (Lam. 3:45): “scum (סחי) and refuse”; (Isa. 5:25), “and their corpses were like spittle (כסוחה).” I sully my bed with tears. Menachem (p. 172), however, associated it with (Isa. 25:11): “as the swimmer (השׂחה) spreads out [his hands] to swim (לשׂחות),” and with (Ezek. 47:5), “water to swim in (שׂחו).”

I wet my couch with my tears I moisten and wet as with water.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

I am weary with my groaning; Every night make I my bed to swim; I melt my couch with my tears. – For I groan and am anxious on account of my sickness and weep until I make my bed swim every night, because at night the sickness is grievous, and a man laments and weeps on account of his sickness. Or he weeps at night because the household is asleep and no one sees him. And lo! he is weary with groaning and with weeping. And as for what he says: I make to swim and I water – it is by way of exaggeration and hyperbole. And the interpretation of אשחה (I make to swim) is (to be derived) from (such passages) as: “as he that swimmeth (השחה) spreadeth out his hands to swim (לשׂחות)” (Is. 25:11); or from the Targum (rendering) of “and he washed (וירחץ)” (Gen. 43:31), which is ואסתי. And the interpretation of אמסה (I melt) is (to be gathered) from (such passages) as: “they made the heart of the people melt (המסיו)” (Josh. 14:8); “and like a moth Thou makest his beauty to melt away (ותמס)” (Ps. 39:12). These (instances) are from verbs lamed he of the hifil conjugation. And there are many (cases) of double 'ayin verbs of this signification, as: “They have made my heart to melt (הֵמַסּוּ)” (Deut. 1:28); “and the heart of the people melted (וַיִּמָּס)” (Josh. 7:8).

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.