Psalm 38:7-22

7 My insides are filled with burning pain, and no healthy spot is left on my body.

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.

13 But I am like a person who cannot hear and like a person who cannot speak.

14 I am like one who cannot hear and who can offer no arguments.

15 But I wait with hope for you, O LORD. You will answer, O Lord, my God.

16 I said, "Do not let them gloat over me. When my foot slips, do not let them promote themselves at my expense."

17 I am ready to fall. I am continually aware of my pain.

18 I confess my guilt. My sin troubles me.

19 My mortal enemies are growing stronger. Many hate me for no reason.

20 They pay me back with evil instead of good, and they accuse me because I try to do what is good.

21 Do not abandon me, O LORD. O my God, do not be so distant from me.

22 Come quickly to help me, O Lord, my savior.

Psalm 38:7-22 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.