Psalm 38

Living Bible

38 O Lord, don’t punish me while you are angry! ²Your arrows have struck deep; your blows are crushing me. ^3-4Because of your anger, my body is sick, my health is broken beneath my sins. They are like a flood, higher than my head; they are a burden too heavy to bear. ^5-6My wounds are festering and full of pus. Because of my sins, I am bent and racked with pain. My days are filled with anguish. ⁷My loins burn with inflammation,^[a] and my whole body is diseased. ⁸I am exhausted and crushed; I groan in despair.^[b]

⁹Lord, you know how I long for my health once more. You hear my every sigh. ¹⁰My heart beats wildly, my strength fails, and I am going blind. ¹¹My loved ones and friends stay away, fearing my disease. Even my own family stands at a distance.

¹²Meanwhile my enemies are trying to kill me. They plot my ruin and spend all their waking hours planning treachery. ^13-14But I am deaf to all their threats; I am silent before them as a man who cannot speak. I have nothing to say. ¹⁵For I am waiting for you, O Lord my God. Come and protect me. ¹⁶Put an end to their arrogance, these who gloat when I am cast down!

¹⁷How constantly I find myself upon the verge of sin;^[c] this source of sorrow always stares me in the face. ¹⁸I confess my sins; I am sorry for what I have done. ¹⁹But my enemies persecute with vigor and continue to hate me—though I have done nothing against them to deserve it. ²⁰They repay me evil for good and hate me for standing for the right.

²¹Don’t leave me, Lord; don’t go away! ²²Come quickly! Help me, O my Savior.

Footnotes

Psalm 38:7 My loins burn with inflammation, implied.
Psalm 38:8 in despair, or “because of the pains in my heart.”
Psalm 38:17 How constantly I find myself upon the verge of sin, literally, “I am ready to fall.”