Psalm 6/Notes/Lexical.v. 6.423320

• The word translated as mention (זִכְרֶךָ) is an important word in the psalm. It refers to an "action by which memories of certain divine activities are celebrated in word or song" (SDBH). The NLT translation, therefore, is somewhat misleading: "For the dead do not remember you." As Childs notes, the psalmist "suffers not because of the inability to remember YHWH in death, as the word is often translated. Rather, the parallelism ["who can praise you?"] indicates that the problem arises from the failure of the dead to share in the praise of Yahweh which characterizes Israel's worship (cf. Ps 88.11; Isa 38:18)." The Septuagint translator accurately communicates this meaning by choosing a Greek word that implies speaking (μνημονεύω) rather than a word that describes a purely mental activity (μιμνήσκομαι, which is how the translator usually translates זכר) (cf. Pietersma).
• Significantly, the noun זֵכֶר can also refer to an "appellation through which one can be remembered" (SDBH). It is often a synonym of the word "name" (שֵׁם). This is significant in Psalm 6, because in vv. 7-8, where the psalmist's suffering is at its deepest, the psalm never mentions YHWH's name. In vv. 2-6, he mentions YHWH's name five times. But in vv. 7-8, it is as though David has descended into the world of the dead, the place where YHWH is neither named nor praised. But then in the fourth section (vv. 9-11), David regains energy, confidence, and authority, and he proclaims YHWH's name three times, as though he has come back from the dead. The NIV nicely captures the meaning and poetic significance by translating אֵין...זִכְרֶךָ as "no one proclaims your name" (NIV).