Psalms 38:10

10 My heart is pounding. I have lost my strength. Even the light of my eyes has left me.

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 numb and completely devastated. I roar because my heart's in turmoil.
9 You know all my desires, O Lord, and my groaning has not been hidden from you.
10 My heart is pounding. I have lost my strength. Even the light of my eyes has left me.
11 My loved ones and my friends keep their distance and my relatives stand far away because of my sickness.
12 Those who seek my life lay traps for me. Those who are out to harm me talk about ruining me. All day long they think of ways to deceive me.
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