Psalm 6/Figurative

Figurative

Metaphor

• v.2ab. Conceptual metaphor: Yahweh is a father who disciplines (יסר // יכח) his son, the king (cf. Ps. 2:7)
• v.8b. "The eyes 'grow weak' because they are figuratively 'old.'",

Metonymy

• v.6a. "'Death here refers metonymically to the realm of death where the departed spirits reside." Death (מָוֶת) does indeed sometimes refer to a place (cf. Ps. 9:14, "death's gates"). That this is the case here may be suggested by the parallel שְׁאוֹל. However, the (generic) use of the definite article (בַּמָּוְת) may suggest that death here refers to a state rather than a place.
• v.9b. "The sound of my weeping" is metonymic for the Psalmist's multiplied agonies and perhaps also for his prayer to Yahweh.,

Synecdoche

• v.3. "The 'bones' are viewed here as representing the entire body (synecdoche), which has been gravely affected by his illness."
• v.8. The eye may stand for the whole physical/emotional state of the psalmist.,

Anthropomorphism

• v.2. Yahweh disciplines (see above).
• vv.9b-10. Yahweh hears.,

Apostrophe

• v.9. The psalmist turns to address his enemies in the final climactic section of the psalm. "The subsequent context shows the language to be that of defiance and triumph. He orders them off with all their menaces and taunts and disheartening speeches. He says, I will listen to you no longer; I will be distressed by you no more; you have tormented me long enough; I am myself again; take yourselves off; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.,

Hyperbole

• v.7b. "Lit., 'I cause to swim through all the night my bed'—a graphic image of physical and mental suffering."
• v.7c. His tears are so numerous as to dissolve his couch into liquid.
• v.8ab. His eye has swelled an aged.,

Rhetorical questions

Rhetorical questions conclude the first two sections of the psalm (structural epiphora).

• v.4b. עַד־מָתָֽי׃ – "Although questions beginning 'How long?' recur (e.g., Pss. 74:10; 80:4 [5]; 82:2; 94:3), and there are others where the phrase stands alone (90:13; Isa. 6:11; Jer. 23:26), in its disjointedness this is the starkest and most urgent."
• v.6b. מִ֣י יֽוֹדֶה־לָּֽךְ׃ – "In Sheol, the dark and unknown place of the dead, who would be able to praise God? Obvious answer: Nobody! (a rhetorical question). The RQ marker מִי emphatically matches the preceding reason כִּי marker.",

Idioms

• v.8a. "Lit., 'my eye wastes away'—presumably (metaphorically speaking) from losing so much fluid through the shedding of tears (cf. the English idiom, 'I cried my eyes out')!"
• v.10b. To "take" (לקח) a petition is to accept it as satisfactory and to grant what is requested (cf. Ex. 22:10, accepting an oath).