What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
What profit ... ? - (cf. Psalms 30:3.) God would lose the grateful homage of praise which David rendered to Him on earth. Therefore it cannot be that God will reject His servant's prayer (Psalms 6:5).
Shall the dust ... ? So Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:18-19). God cannot cast aside His truth whereby He promises to forgive fully His people's sins upon their repentance. 1 Chronicles 21:14-17 shows how acutely David felt his people's sufferings; so much so that he cried to the angel with the sword drawn over Jerusalem," I it is that have sinned ... Let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me ... but not on thy people, that they should be plagued."