Psalms 38:1-9

1 O Lord, don't punish me in your anger!
2 You have wounded me with your arrows; you have struck me down.
3 Because of your anger, I am in great pain; my whole body is diseased because of my sins.
4 I am drowning in the flood of my sins; they are a burden too heavy to bear.
5 Because I have been foolish, my sores stink and rot.
6 I am bent over, I am crushed; I mourn all day long.
7 I am burning with fever and I am near death.
8 I am worn out and utterly crushed; my heart is troubled, and I groan with pain.
9 O Lord, you know what I long for; you hear all my groans.

Psalms 38:1-9 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.

Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.