Psalms 38:10-20

10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes.
11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away.
12 Those who want to kill me set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they scheme and lie.
13 I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, like the mute, who cannot speak;
14 I have become like one who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply.
15 LORD, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.
16 For I said, “Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”
17 For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me.
18 I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.
19 Many have become my enemies without cause[a] ; those who hate me without reason are numerous.
20 Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me, though I seek only to do what is good.

Psalms 38:10-20 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.

Cross References 20

  • 1. S Job 37:1
  • 2. S Psalms 31:10
  • 3. S Psalms 6:7; S Psalms 19:8; Psalms 88:9
  • 4. S ver 5; Psalms 31:11
  • 5. Psalms 31:4; Psalms 140:5; Psalms 141:9
  • 6. Psalms 35:4; Psalms 41:5; Psalms 54:3
  • 7. S Psalms 35:20
  • 8. Psalms 115:6; Psalms 135:17; Isaiah 43:8; Mark 7:37
  • 9. Psalms 27:14; Psalms 39:7
  • 10. Psalms 17:6
  • 11. S Psalms 22:17; Psalms 35:26
  • 12. S Deuteronomy 32:35; Psalms 13:4
  • 13. S Psalms 37:24
  • 14. ver 7; S Job 6:10
  • 15. S Leviticus 26:40; Psalms 32:5
  • 16. S Psalms 18:17
  • 17. S Psalms 25:19
  • 18. S Psalms 35:19
  • 19. S Genesis 44:4; Psalms 35:12; 1 John 3:12
  • 20. Psalms 54:5; Psalms 59:10; Psalms 119:23

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. One Dead Sea Scrolls manuscript; Masoretic Text "my vigorous enemies"
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