Psalms 38:1-6

1 O LORD, 1rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath!
2 For your 2arrows have sunk into me, and your hand 3has come down on me.
3 There is 4no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my 5bones because of my sin.
4 For my 6iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness,
6 I am 7utterly bowed down and 8prostrate; all the day I 9go about mourning.

Psalms 38:1-6 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 9

  • 1. Psalms 6:1
  • 2. Job 6:4
  • 3. See Psalms 32:4
  • 4. Isaiah 1:6
  • 5. See Psalms 31:10
  • 6. Psalms 40:12; Ezra 9:6
  • 7. Psalms 35:14; Psalms 42:5, 6, 11; Psalms 43:5
  • 8. Isaiah 21:3
  • 9. [Job 30:28]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.