Psalms 38

LORD, do not correct me while you are angry. Do not punish me while your anger burns hot.

1O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

NoteWhere the King James prints LORD in capitals it is standing in for the Hebrew personal name of God, four consonants usually written YHWH, which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud. Ordinary "Lord" (as in verses 9, 15 and 22) translates a different Hebrew word, adonai, meaning master. "Chasten" means to discipline or correct, the way a parent corrects a child, not to punish in court.

2Your arrows have sunk deep into me, and your hand presses down hard on me.

2For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.

NoteSudden illness or disaster was commonly pictured across the ancient Near East as arrows shot by a god. The speaker is describing his sickness, not a literal wounding.

3No part of my body is healthy, because you are angry. My bones get no rest, because of my sin.

3There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.

Note"Bones" in Hebrew often stands for the whole physical frame, and by extension for the person's very self, so "no rest in my bones" means the trouble reaches all the way through him.

4My sins have risen up over my head. They are a load too heavy for me to carry.

4For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

5My wounds smell bad and are full of infection, because of my own foolishness.

5My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.

NoteThe word rendered "foolishness" is not stupidity but moral recklessness, knowingly doing the wrong thing. Hebrew wisdom writing uses it as a near-synonym for wrongdoing.

6I am bent over and brought very low. All day long I walk around grieving.

6I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.

7My sides are filled with a sickness I hate, and no part of my body is healthy.

7For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "loins" covers the lower back, hips and inner organs, the body's core rather than a precise organ. The word the King James translates "loathsome disease" is uncertain; it may mean burning, that is fever or inflammation, and modern translations differ.

8I am worn out and badly crushed. I have cried out loud because my heart is so troubled.

8I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.

Note"Roared" translates a verb used elsewhere of a lion's roar. It describes a loud, wordless cry of pain, not speech.

9Lord, everything I long for is right there in front of you. My groaning is not hidden from you.

9Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.

10My heart pounds and my strength is gone. Even the light in my eyes has faded away.

10My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.

Note"The light of mine eyes" is a standard Hebrew idiom for vitality. Bright eyes meant life and strength; eyes going dark meant strength draining away, and sometimes nearness to death.

11The people who love me and my friends keep away from my sores. My relatives stand far off.

11My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.

NoteIn 1611 English "lovers" simply meant those who love him, family and close friends, with no sexual sense. Keeping distance from a diseased person was not only fear: skin disease and discharges made a person ritually unclean under Israelite law, so contact was avoided and the sick could be excluded from ordinary community life.

12People who want to take my life set traps for me. People who want to hurt me talk about ruining me, and they plan lies all day long.

12They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.

Note"Imagine" here has its older sense of scheming or plotting, not picturing something in the mind. "Mischievous" is far stronger than in modern use: it means destructive, aimed at ruin.

13But I acted like a deaf man who does not hear. I was like a man who cannot speak and does not open his mouth.

13But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.

Note"Dumb" in 1611 English meant unable to speak, with no suggestion of stupidity. The picture in verses 13 and 14 is of someone accused who makes no reply to the charges against him.

14So I was like a man who hears nothing, and who has no answer in his mouth.

14Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.

15I put my hope in you, LORD. You will answer me, Lord my God.

15For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.

16I said, "Hear me, or else they will be glad about my trouble." When my foot slips, they lift themselves up over me.

16For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.

Note"When my foot slippeth" is an idiom for stumbling into disaster or disgrace. "Magnify themselves against me" means to make themselves big at his expense, to gloat.

17I am about to fall, and my pain is with me all the time.

17For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.

Note"Halt" in 1611 English means to limp or stumble, not to stop. The line says he is on the point of collapse.

18I will admit the wrong I have done. I am grieved by my sin.

18For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.

Note"I will be sorry" translates a word closer to being anxious or in dread about something than to feeling regret.

19But my enemies are full of life and strong. The people who hate me without cause keep growing in number.

19But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.

NoteThe Hebrew here is disputed. One reading takes the word as "living," giving the King James "lively", meaning vigorous and thriving, the opposite of the sick speaker. A very similar-looking word means "without cause," which is how many modern translations read it, matching the second half of the verse.

20People who pay back my good with evil are against me, because I go after what is good.

20They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.

21Do not leave me, LORD. My God, do not stay far away from me.

21Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.

22Hurry and help me, Lord, you who save me.

22Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.

Note"Salvation" in Hebrew usually means concrete rescue (being pulled out of danger, illness or enemies), rather than an afterlife. The word is a noun used as a title here: you who are my rescue.