Psalm 32:4

4 For day and night ¹Your hand was heavy upon me; My ²vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.

Psalm 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) .

Psalm 32:4 In-Context

2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.

5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

6 Therefore , let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Samuel 5:6; Job 23:2; Job 33:7; Psalms 38:2; Psalms 39:10
• 2. Psalms 22:15

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "life juices were turned into the drought of summer"
• [b] "Selah" may mean: "Pause, Crescendo" or "Musical interlude"