Psalm 38:6

6 I am bent over and racked with pain. All day long I walk around filled with grief.

Psalm 38:6 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 38:6

I am troubled
Discomposed and perplexed in mind; his thoughts were disturbed and irregular, and in the utmost confusion and distress: this trouble was not only on account of the affliction that was upon him, but chiefly because of his sin; and which was increased by the view he had of the displeasure of God, concluding he was come forth against him in wrath and fury;

I am bowed down greatly;
not in his body, at least not in that only, as if he was bowed together by his disorder, that he could not lift himself up; for he is said to walk in the next clause: or rather he bowed down his head as a bulrush voluntarily, and through sorrow and shame could not lift it up before the Lord; though it may chiefly design the pressure of his mind, that his soul was cast down within him, and with all his spiritual reasonings he could not erect himself; it is the Lord that raiseth up those that are bowed down in this sense; see ( Psalms 42:5 Psalms 42:6 Psalms 42:11 ) ( 145:14 ) ;

I go mourning all the day long;
or "I go black", or "in black" ^F9; meaning either that his skin was black, through the disease upon him, and the trouble that was in him, ( Job 30:30 ) ; or that he was clothed in black garments, as a token of mourning; as white garments were of joy and cheerfulness, ( Ecclesiastes 9:7 Ecclesiastes 9:8 ) ; and he was blacker still in his own apprehension, by reason of inward corruptions and outward transgressions, which appeared in a very black hue, attended with aggravating circumstances; see ( Song of Solomon 1:5 ) ( Psalms 51:7 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 (rdwq) "atratus", Montanus, Tigurine version, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.

Psalm 38:6 In-Context

4 My guilt overwhelms me— it is a burden too heavy to bear.

5 My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins.

6 I am bent over and racked with pain. All day long I walk around filled with grief.

7 A raging fever burns within me, and my health is broken.

8 I am exhausted and completely crushed. My groans come from an anguished heart.