Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.
What does Psalms 6:4 mean?
These verses speak the language of a heart truly humbled, of a broken and contrite spirit under great afflictions, sent to awaken conscience and mortify corruption.
Key themes
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Keep this verse inside its immediate passage and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on Psalms 6:4
Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake. Return, O Lord, deliver my soul - As if he had departed from him, and had left him to die. The word "soul" in this place is used, as it often is, in the sense of "life," for in the next verse he speaks of the grave to which he evidently felt he was rapidly descending. O save me - Save my life; save me from going down to the grave. Deliver me from these troubles and dangers.
Key words
- Return
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Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake.
- LORD
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Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake.
- deliver
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Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake.
Context in Psalms 6
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Psalms 6 belongs to the early movement of the book, especially the section often described as Book I. Psalms is the Bible’s great book of sung prayer, teaching the full range of faithful speech from anguish and repentance to jubilation and doxology. Read this chapter with the wider themes of prayer, praise, and lament in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
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