Psalms / Chapter 38

Psalms 38

23 verses • Westminster Leningrad Codex

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

A penitential psalm of David, composed 'for remembrance' (lehazkir). David describes his suffering in excruciating physical detail — festering wounds, a bent body, burning loins, failing eyes, a pounding heart — and attributes it to God's wrath against his sin. His friends withdraw. His enemies watch. He has become silent, unable even to defend himself. The psalm ends not with resolution or deliverance but with a raw plea: 'Do not abandon me, O LORD. Be not far from me. Hurry to help me, O Lord, my salvation.' It is one of the most unflinching accounts of suffering in the Psalter.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

Unlike Psalm 32, which describes suffering caused by concealed sin and ended by confession, Psalm 38 describes suffering that continues even after acknowledgment. David confesses his sin openly (v. 19) and still the pain persists. The psalm offers no resolution, no turning point, no moment of relief. It begins in agony and ends in agony, with only a thread of hope in the final verse. This makes it one of the most honest prayers in Scripture — a prayer that refuses to manufacture a happy ending. The physical descriptions are among the most graphic in ancient literature: arrows embedded in the flesh (v. 3), wounds that fester and stink (v. 6), burning in the loins (v. 8), a heart that pounds (v. 11), eyes that fail (v. 11). The psalmist's body has become a battlefield between God's discipline and his own sin.

Translation Friction

The superscription lehazkir ('for remembrance, for a memorial') is shared only with Psalm 70 and connects to the azkarat offering (the memorial portion of the grain offering, Leviticus 2:2). Some scholars suggest the psalm was recited during that offering. The theology of direct divine punishment for personal sin (God's arrows in the flesh, His hand pressing down) is one that other biblical books qualify — Job questions it, Ecclesiastes undermines it, and Jesus challenges it in John 9:1-3. Psalm 38 does not argue the theology; it lives inside it. David accepts that his suffering is connected to his sin, even as the psalm quietly protests the severity of the punishment.

Connections

Psalm 38 is the third of the seven traditional penitential psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143). Its language of physical affliction parallels Job 7 and 30. The imagery of arrows (v. 3) connects to Psalm 64:7 and Lamentations 3:12-13 (where God shoots arrows into the kidneys). The abandonment by friends (v. 12) parallels Psalm 31:11-12 and Job 19:13-19. The silence of the psalmist before accusers (vv. 14-15) anticipates Isaiah's Servant who 'does not open his mouth' (Isaiah 53:7) and Jesus' silence before Pilate (Matthew 27:14).

Psalms 38:1

מִזְמ֖וֹר לְדָוִ֣ד לְהַזְכִּֽיר׃

A psalm of David, for remembrance.

KJV A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The word lehazkir ('for remembrance, for a memorial offering') connects this psalm to the sacrificial system. The Hiphil of zakar ('to remember') suggests that the psalm is itself an act of bringing something before God's attention — either the psalmist's suffering or his penitence. The same term appears in the headings of Psalm 70.

Psalms 38:2

יְהוָ֗ה אַל־בְּקֶצְפְּךָ֥ תוֹכִיחֵ֑נִי וּ֝בַחֲמָתְךָ֗ תְיַסְּרֵֽנִי׃

O LORD, do not rebuke me in your wrath. Do not discipline me in your burning anger.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The opening echoes Psalm 6:1 almost verbatim. The two words for divine anger — qetseph ('wrath, fury, indignation') and chamah ('heat, burning anger, rage') — describe intensity on two registers. David does not ask God to stop disciplining him entirely; he asks God to lower the temperature. The verbs tokhicheni ('rebuke me') and teyassereni ('discipline me, chasten me') belong to the parent-child vocabulary: this is corrective pain, not vindictive punishment.

Psalms 38:3

כִּ֣י חִ֭צֶּיךָ נִ֣חֲתוּ בִ֑י וַתִּנְחַ֖ת עָלַ֣י יָדֶֽךָ׃

For your arrows have sunk deep into me, and your hand has come down hard upon me.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The arrow imagery for divine punishment appears across the ancient Near East. In the Hebrew Bible, God's arrows represent plague, disaster, or direct affliction (Deuteronomy 32:23, Lamentations 3:12-13, Ezekiel 5:16). The pairing of arrows (distance weapon) and hand (close weapon) means there is no safe range — God's discipline reaches David at every distance.

Psalms 38:4

אֵין־מְתֹ֣ם בִּ֭בְשָׂרִי מִפְּנֵ֣י זַעְמֶ֑ךָ אֵין־שָׁל֖וֹם בַּעֲצָמַ֣י מִפְּנֵ֣י חַטָּאתִֽי׃

There is no soundness in my flesh because of your fury. There is no wholeness in my bones because of my sin.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The parallel structure attributes the physical collapse to two causes: God's fury (za'amekha) and David's sin (chattati). The word metom ('soundness, wholeness, health') from tamam ('to be complete') means nothing in his flesh is intact. The word shalom ('peace, wholeness, well-being') is absent from his bones. The verse makes no attempt to separate the physical from the moral: sin and suffering are intertwined in David's body.

Psalms 38:5

כִּ֣י עֲ֭וֺנֹתַי עָבְר֣וּ רֹאשִׁ֑י כְּמַשָּׂ֥א כָ֝בֵ֗ד יִכְבְּד֥וּ מִמֶּֽנִּי׃

For my iniquities have risen over my head. Like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me to bear.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The image of avonot ('iniquities') rising over the head (avru roshi) is like drowning — the water level has passed above the head, and the person is submerged. The simile ke-massa kaved ('like a heavy load') shifts to the image of a back-breaking burden. David's sins are simultaneously flood and freight — he is drowning under them and crushed beneath them.

Psalms 38:6

הִבְאִ֣ישׁוּ נָ֭מַקּוּ חַבּוּרֹתָ֑י מִ֝פְּנֵ֗י אִוַּלְתִּֽי׃

My wounds fester and rot because of my foolishness.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The verb hiv'ishu ('they stink, they emit a foul odor') and namaqu ('they are festering, they are oozing') describe infected wounds in clinical detail. The chavurotai ('my wounds, my welts, my stripes') are attributed to ivvalti ('my foolishness'). The word ivvelet is not mere stupidity but moral foolishness — the willful choice of the wrong path that Proverbs calls the way of the fool.

Psalms 38:7

נַעֲוֵ֣יתִי שַׁחֹ֣תִי עַד־מְאֹ֑ד כׇּל־הַ֝יּ֗וֹם קֹדֵ֥ר הִלָּֽכְתִּי׃

I am bent over and bowed down completely. All day long I go about in mourning.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The verb na'aveti ('I am bent, I am twisted') describes a body that can no longer stand straight. The verb shachoti ('I am bowed down') intensifies: bent to the ground. The phrase kol hayyom qoder hillakhti ('all day long I walk about darkened/in mourning') describes a person who shuffles through life in a permanent posture of grief, face darkened, body hunched.

Psalms 38:8

כִּי־כְ֭סָלַי מָלְא֣וּ נִקְלֶ֑ה וְאֵ֥ין מְ֝תֹ֗ם בִּבְשָׂרִֽי׃

For my sides are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The word kesalai ('my loins, my sides, my flanks') refers to the lower back and hip area. The word niqleh ('burning, inflammation, something worthless/scorched') describes either a burning skin disease or intense fever in the midsection. The phrase ein metom bi-vesari ('there is no soundness in my flesh') repeats verse 4, creating a frame: the body is uniformly damaged.

Psalms 38:9

נְפוּגוֹתִ֣י וְנִדְכֵּ֣יתִי עַד־מְאֹ֑ד שָׁ֝אַ֗גְתִּי מִנַּהֲמַ֥ת לִבִּֽי׃

I am numb and utterly crushed. I groan from the anguish of my heart.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The verb nefugoti ('I am numb, I am paralyzed, I am faint') describes someone whose capacity to feel has been overwhelmed — past pain, into numbness. The verb nidkeiti ('I am crushed, I am broken') from dakah ('to crush, to pulverize'). The verb sha'agti ('I have roared, I have groaned') from nahamat libbi ('the groaning/roaring of my heart') — the heart itself is making an animal sound of distress.

Psalms 38:10

אֲ‍ֽדֹנָי נֶגְדְּךָ֥ כׇל־תַּאֲוָתִ֑י וְ֝אַנְחָתִ֗י מִמְּךָ֥ לֹא־נִסְתָּֽרָה׃

O Lord, all my longing is before you. My groaning is not hidden from you.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

A moment of address amid the catalog of pain. The word ta'avati ('my desire, my longing, my craving') means everything David wants — healing, restoration, God's presence — lies open before God. The anchati ('my groaning, my sighing') is not hidden (lo nistrah) from God. The verse is simultaneously a prayer and a statement of trust: even if David cannot form coherent petitions, God sees his longing and hears his groans.

Psalms 38:11

לִבִּ֣י סְ֭חַרְחַר עֲזָבַ֣נִי כֹחִ֑י וְאוֹר־עֵ֝ינַ֗י גַּם־הֵ֥ם אֵ֣ין אִתִּֽי׃

My heart pounds violently. My strength has left me. Even the light of my eyes — it too has gone from me.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The verb secharchar ('palpitates, pounds, goes around and around') describes a heart that races and flutters — a symptom of extreme anxiety or physical illness. The phrase azavani kochi ('my strength has abandoned me') means his body's power has deserted him. The final blow: or einai ('the light of my eyes') — his vision itself — gam hem ein itti ('even they are not with me'). The eyes are failing. David is losing the ability to see. The catalog of physical destruction is nearly total: flesh, bones, wounds, loins, heart, strength, eyes.

Psalms 38:12

אֹהֲבַ֤י וְרֵעַ֗י מִנֶּ֣גֶד נִגְעִ֣י יַעֲמֹ֑דוּ וּ֝קְרוֹבַ֗י מֵרָחֹ֥ק עָמָֽדוּ׃

My loved ones and my friends stand at a distance from my affliction, and my relatives stand far away.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The social collapse mirrors the physical collapse. The ohavai ('my loved ones') and re'ai ('my friends/companions') stand mi-neged nig'i ('opposite my affliction' — at a safe distance from his disease). The qerovai ('my close relatives, my kinsmen') stand me-rachoq ('far off'). The people who should be closest have retreated. Suffering has made David untouchable — a leper in all but name.

Psalms 38:13

וַיְנַקְשׁ֤וּ ׀ מְבַקְשֵׁ֬י נַפְשִׁ֗י וְדֹרְשֵׁ֣י רָ֭עָתִי דִּבְּר֣וּ הַוּ֑וֹת וּ֝מִרְמ֗וֹת כׇּל־הַיּ֥וֹם יֶהְגּֽוּ׃

Those who seek my life set traps for me. Those who seek my harm speak of destruction and plot deceit all day long.

KJV They 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.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

While friends retreat, enemies advance. The mevaqshei nafshi ('those who seek my life') set traps (vayyenaqshu). The dorshei ra'ati ('those who seek my harm') speak havvot ('destructions, calamities, ruin') and meditate on mirmot ('deceits, treacheries') all day. The combination of social isolation and active persecution creates total vulnerability: no friends to defend him, only enemies to destroy him.

Psalms 38:14

וַאֲנִ֣י כְ֭חֵרֵשׁ לֹ֣א אֶשְׁמָ֑ע וּ֝כְאִלֵּ֗ם לֹ֣א יִפְתַּח־פִּֽיו׃

But I am like a deaf man — I do not hear. Like a mute person who does not open his mouth.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

David's response to his accusers is total silence. He is ke-cheresh ('like a deaf man') — he does not listen to the accusations. He is ke-illem ('like a mute person') — he does not defend himself. This silence is not passive resignation but deliberate restraint. David could argue, defend, counter-accuse — but he refuses. This posture anticipates Isaiah's Suffering Servant ('like a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth,' Isaiah 53:7) and Jesus' silence before Pilate.

Psalms 38:15

וָאֱהִ֗י כְּ֭אִישׁ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לֹא־שֹׁמֵ֑עַ וְאֵ֥ין בְּ֝פִ֗יו תּוֹכָחֽוֹת׃

I have become like a person who does not hear, in whose mouth there are no arguments.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The silence deepens: not only does David refuse to speak, but he has no tokhachot ('reproofs, arguments, rebuttals') in his mouth at all. He has emptied himself of defense. The reason for this silence emerges in verse 16: David has transferred his case entirely to God. He is silent before people because he is speaking to God.

Psalms 38:16

כִּֽי־לְךָ֣ יְהוָ֣ה הוֹחָ֑לְתִּי אַתָּ֥ה תַ֝עֲנֶ֗ה אֲדֹנָ֥י אֱלֹהָֽי׃

For in you, O LORD, I have placed my hope. You will answer, O Lord my God.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The reason for silence before human accusers: lekha YHWH hochalti ('in you, O LORD, I have waited/hoped'). David's defense is not in his own mouth but in God's response. The declaration attah ta'aneh ('you will answer') is an act of faith: God will eventually speak on David's behalf. The triple title YHWH...Adonai Elohai ('LORD...Lord my God') piles up divine names as if to anchor the faith more firmly.

Psalms 38:17

כִּי־אָ֭מַרְתִּי פֶּן־יִשְׂמְחוּ־לִ֑י בְּמ֥וֹט רַ֝גְלִ֗י עָלַ֥י הִגְדִּֽילוּ׃

For I said, 'Do not let them gloat over me, those who exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.'

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

David's prayer has a specific fear: pen yismchu li ('lest they rejoice over me'). The verb mot ragli ('my foot slips, my foot staggers') describes a stumble that the enemies would exploit. The verb higdilu alai ('they magnify themselves against me') means they enlarge themselves at David's expense — his diminishment is their aggrandizement.

Psalms 38:18

כִּֽי־אֲנִ֣י לְצֶ֣לַע נָכ֑וֹן וּמַכְאוֹבִ֖י נֶגְדִּ֣י תָמִֽיד׃

For I am on the verge of collapse, and my pain is always before me.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The phrase le-tsela nakhon ('ready for stumbling, prepared for falling') means David is at the breaking point — one more push and he falls. His makh'ovi ('my pain') is negdi tamid ('continually before me') — he cannot look away from his own suffering. There is no respite, no distraction, no relief.

Psalms 38:19

כִּי־עֲ֭וֺנִי אַגִּ֑יד אֶ֝דְאַ֗ג מֵחַטָּאתִֽי׃

For I confess my iniquity. I am troubled by my sin.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The confession: avoni aggid ('my iniquity I declare/confess'). The verb aggid ('I tell, I declare, I make known') is a public statement, not a private thought. The verb ed'ag ('I am anxious, I am troubled, I am concerned') from da'ag ('to be anxious') describes the ongoing anguish that sin produces — not just guilt but deep disturbance. Unlike Psalm 32, where confession brought immediate relief, here the confession does not resolve the suffering.

Psalms 38:20

וְ֭אֹיְבַי חַיִּ֣ים עָצֵ֑מוּ וְרַ֖בּוּ שֹׂנְאַ֣י שָֽׁקֶר׃

But my enemies are vigorous and strong, and those who hate me falsely are many.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The contrast is brutal: David is collapsing, but his enemies are chayyim ('alive, vigorous, full of life') and atsermu ('strong, powerful, numerous'). Those who hate him sheqer ('falsely, without legitimate cause') are rabbou ('have multiplied, have increased'). As David weakens, his enemies grow stronger and more numerous.

Psalms 38:21

וּמְשַׁלְּמֵ֣י רָ֭עָה תַּ֣חַת טוֹבָ֑ה יִ֝שְׂטְנ֗וּנִי תַּ֣חַת רׇדְפִי (רָדְפִי)־טֽוֹב׃

Those who repay evil for good accuse me because I pursue what is good.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The theme from Psalm 35:12 returns: meshallemei ra'ah tachat tovah ('those who repay evil in place of good'). The verb yistenuni ('they accuse me, they act as adversaries against me') from satan ('to oppose, to accuse') — they play the adversary role. The reason: tachat rodfi tov ('because I pursue good'). David's pursuit of goodness is itself the offense that provokes their hostility.

Psalms 38:22

אַל־תַּעַזְבֵ֥נִי יְהוָ֑ה אֱ֝לֹהַ֗י אַל־תִּרְחַ֥ק מִמֶּֽנִּי׃

Do not abandon me, O LORD. O my God, do not be far from me.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The closing plea strips away everything except the essential request: al ta'azveni ('do not abandon me') and al tirchaq mimmenni ('do not be far from me'). These are the two things David fears more than pain, more than enemies, more than death: God's absence and God's distance. The double address YHWH...Elohai ('LORD...my God') clings to both the covenant name and the personal relationship.

Psalms 38:23

ח֥וּשָׁה לְעֶזְרָתִ֑י אֲ֝דֹנָ֗י תְּשׁוּעָתִֽי׃

Hurry to help me, O Lord, my salvation.

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

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

The final word: chushah le-ezrati Adonai teshu'ati ('hurry to my help, O Lord, my salvation'). The verb chushah ('hurry, make haste, come quickly') is the most urgent word in the Hebrew prayer vocabulary. The psalm ends not with resolution but with urgency — a running cry from a person who needs God to arrive now. The title teshu'ati ('my salvation') makes the last word of the psalm the declaration that God is David's rescue, even though the rescue has not yet arrived. This is faith at its rawest: claiming God as salvation while still drowning.

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