Psalms 38:1-10

1 A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2 For thy arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand falleth heavy upon me.
3 [There is] no soundness in my flesh because of thy anger; neither [is there any] rest in my bones because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds are offensive, [and] are corrupt because of my foolishness.
6 I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my loins are filled with a lothsome [disease]: and [there is] no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am feeble and grievously broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire [is] before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.
10 My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of my eyes, that also is gone from me.

Psalms 38:1-10 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.

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