Psalms 38:5-7

5 My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.
6 I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.
7 My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body.

Psalms 38:5-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 38

\\<>\\. This psalm was composed by David under some sore affliction, and when in great distress of mind by reason of sin, perhaps his sin with Bathsheba; and was written as a memorial of his sense of sin, of his great afflictions, and deliverance from them; and therefore is said to be "to bring to remembrance", or to refresh his memory with the said things. Kimchi and Ben Melech think the psalm was made for the sake of such as are in distress, to put them in mind and teach them how to pray. The Targum calls the psalm, ``a good remembrance concerning Israel;'' and Jarchi says it was to remember the distress of Israel before the Lord, and that it is said with respect to all Israel; though others think the word "lehazcir" is the name of a psalm tune; and Aben Ezra was of opinion that it was the first word of some pleasant poem. The Septuagint version adds, ``concerning the sabbath,'' as if it was wrote to put persons in mind of that day; whereas there is nothing in the whole psalm that has any such tendency.

Cross References 7

  • 1. ver 11; Psalms 147:3
  • 2. Job 19:17
  • 3. Psalms 69:5; Proverbs 5:23; Proverbs 12:23; Proverbs 13:16; Ecclesiastes 10:3
  • 4. Psalms 57:6; Psalms 145:14; Psalms 146:8
  • 5. Job 30:28; S Psalms 35:14; Psalms 42:9
  • 6. S Job 14:22; Psalms 102:3
  • 7. ver 3
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