Psalms 38:10

10 My heart pounds, and my strength is gone. I am losing my sight.

Psalms 38:10 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 38:10

My heart panteth
Or "goes about" F13; runs here and there, and finds no rest; as Aben Ezra interprets the word from the Targum he cites; though the Targum we have renders it, "my heart shakes with fear", or dread, as persons in a fever. Jarchi interprets the word, surrounded with grief; it denotes the panting or palpitation of the heart, through sorrow and dread, and the failing of it, even as at death;

my strength faileth me,
or "forsakes me" F14; bodily strength and spiritual strength; the strength of faith, hope, and confidence;

as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me;
which is often the case of persons under bodily disorders, their eyes grow dim, and sight fails them; and this might be true in a spiritual sense of the psalmist, who had lost sight of God as his covenant God; of his interest in his love, in the blessings of his grace, and in eternal salvation, and was walking in darkness, and saw no light.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 (rxrxo) "circuivit", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.
F14 (ynbze) "dereliquit me", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Musculus, Cocceius.

Psalms 38:10 In-Context

8 I am weak and faint. I moan from the pain I feel.
9 Lord, you know everything I want; my cries are not hidden from you.
10 My heart pounds, and my strength is gone. I am losing my sight.
11 Because of my wounds, my friends and neighbors avoid me, and my relatives stay far away.
12 Some people set traps to kill me. Those who want to hurt me plan trouble; all day long they think up lies.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.