Psalms 32:4

4 The pressure never let up; all the juices of my life dried up.

Psalms 32:4 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 32:4

For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me
Meaning the afflicting hand of God, which is not joyous, but grievous, and heavy to be borne; especially without his gracious presence, and the discoveries of his love: this continued night and day, without any intermission; and may design some violent distemper; perhaps a fever; since it follows,

my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.
That is, the radical moisture in him was almost dried up, as brooks in the summer season; his body was parched, as it were, with the burning heat of the disease; or with an apprehension of the wrath of God under it, or both: and so he continued until be was brought to a true sense of sin, and an acknowledgment of it, when he had the discoveries of pardoning love, as is expressed in ( Psalms 32:5 ) . The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read, "I am turned into distress, through a thorn being fixed"; and so Apollinarius paraphrases the words,

``I am become miserable, because thorns are fixed in my skin;''

reading (Uwq) for (Uyq) ; and which Suidas F15 interprets "sin", that being like the thorn, unfruitful and pricking; see ( 2 Corinthians 12:7 ) .

Selah; on this word, (See Gill on Psalms 3:2).


FOOTNOTES:

F15 In voce (akanya) .

Psalms 32:4 In-Context

2 Count yourself lucky - God holds nothing against you and you're holding nothing back from him.
3 When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became daylong groans.
4 The pressure never let up; all the juices of my life dried up.
5 Then I let it all out; I said, "I'll make a clean breast of my failures to God." Suddenly the pressure was gone - my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared.
6 These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray; when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts we'll be on high ground, untouched.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.