Psalm 38:1-22
A melody of David, to bring to remembrance.
38 O Jehovah, do not in your indignation reprove me,+Nor in your rage correct me.+
2 For your own arrows have sunk themselves deep into me,+And upon me your hand is come down.+
3 There is no sound spot in my flesh because of your denunciation.+There is no peace in my bones on account of my sin.+
4 For my own errors have passed over my head;+Like a heavy load they are too heavy for me.+
5 My wounds have become stinky, they have festered,Because of my foolishness.+
6 I have become disconcerted, I have bowed low to an extreme degree;+All day long I have walked about sad.+
7 For my very loins have become full of burning,And there is no sound spot in my flesh.+
8 I have grown numb and become crushed to an extreme degree;I have roared due to the groaning of my heart.+
9 O Jehovah,* in front of you is all my desire,And from you my sighing itself has not been concealed.+
10 My own heart has palpitated heavily, my power has left me,And the light of my own eyes also is not with me.+
11 As for my lovers* and my companions, they keep standing away from my plague,+And my close acquaintances themselves have stood off at a distance.+
12 But those seeking my soul lay out traps,+And those working for a calamity to me have spoken of adversities,+And deceptions they keep muttering all day long.+
13 As for me, like someone deaf, I would not listen;+And like someone speechless, I would not open my mouth.+
14 And I came to be like a man that was not hearing,And in my mouth there were no counterarguments.
15 For on you, O Jehovah, I waited;+You yourself proceeded to answer, O Jehovah* my God.+
16 For I said: “Otherwise they would rejoice at me;+When my foot moved unsteadily,+ they would certainly assume great airs against me.”+
17 For I was ready to limp,+And my pain was in front of me constantly.+
18 For I proceeded to tell about my own error;+I began to be anxious over my sin.+
19 And my enemies who are alive became mighty,+And those hating me for no reason became many.+
20 And they were rewarding me with bad for good;+They kept resisting me* in return for my pursuing what is good.+
21 Do not leave me, O Jehovah.O my God, do not keep far away from me.+
22 Do make haste to my assistance,+O Jehovah* my salvation.+
Footnotes
^ One of 134 scribal changes from YHWH to ʼAdho·naiʹ. See App 1B.
^ Or, “friends.”
^ See vs 9 ftn.
^ Or, “they were adversaries (satans) to me.” Heb., yis·tenuʹni.
^ See vs 9 ftn.
