Psalms 38:8-18

8 I am feeble and crushed down; I gave a cry like a lion because of the grief in my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before you; my sorrow is not kept secret from you.
10 My heart goes out in pain, my strength is wasting away; as for the light of my eyes, it is gone from me.
11 My lovers and my friends keep away from my disease; my relations keep far away.
12 Those who have a desire to take my life put nets for me; those who are designing my destruction say evil things against me, all the day their minds are full of deceit.
13 But I kept my ears shut like a man without hearing; like a man without a voice, never opening his mouth.
14 So I was like a man whose ears are shut, and in whose mouth there are no sharp words.
15 In you, O Lord, is my hope: you will give me an answer, O Lord, my God.
16 I said, Let them not be glad over me; when my foot is moved, let them not be lifted up with pride against me.
17 My feet are near to falling, and my sorrow is ever before me.
18 I will make clear my wrongdoing, with sorrow in my heart for my sin.

Psalms 38:8-18 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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