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38. Psalm 38

¹ LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
   or discipline me in your wrath.
² Your arrows have pierced me,
   and your hand has come down on me.
³ Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
   there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.
⁴ My guilt has overwhelmed me
   like a burden too heavy to bear.

    ⁵ My wounds fester and are loathsome
   because of my sinful folly.
⁶ I am bowed down and brought very low;
   all day long I go about mourning.
⁷ My back is filled with searing pain;
   there is no health in my body.
⁸ I am feeble and utterly crushed;
   I groan in anguish of heart.

    ⁹ All my longings lie open before you, Lord;
   my sighing is not hidden from you.
¹⁰ My heart pounds, my strength fails me;
   even the light has gone from my eyes.
¹¹ My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
   my neighbors stay far away.
¹² Those who want to kill me set their traps,
   those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
   all day long they scheme and lie.

    ¹³ I am like the deaf, who cannot hear,
   like the mute, who cannot speak;
¹⁴ I have become like one who does not hear,
   whose mouth can offer no reply.
¹⁵ LORD, I wait for you;
   you will answer, Lord my God.
¹⁶ For I said, “Do not let them gloat
   or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”

    ¹⁷ For I am about to fall,
   and my pain is ever with me.
¹⁸ I confess my iniquity;
   I am troubled by my sin.
¹⁹ Many have become my enemies without cause One Dead Sea Scrolls manuscript; Masoretic Text my vigorous enemies;
   those who hate me without reason are numerous.
²⁰ Those who repay my good with evil
   lodge accusations against me,
   though I seek only to do what is good.

    ²¹ LORD, do not forsake me;
   do not be far from me, my God.
²² Come quickly to help me,
   my Lord and my Savior.

18 and 19 Surely I declare my iniquity. By comparison, he amplifies what he had just said concerning the pride and the reproachful conduct of his enemies; for he says, that whilst he is lying in a filthy and wretched condition, like a wicked man, and one abandoned by God, they fly about in mirth and gladness, nay, they carry their heads high, because they are rich and powerful. But first, it is proper to notice in what sense it is that he declares his sin. Those, in my judgment, are mistaken, who understand this passage simply in the sense of a confession of his guilt before God, that he might obtain forgiveness. According to their interpretation, the Psalmist is supposed to repeat here what we have seen he said

“I acknowledged my sin unto thee,
and mine iniquity have I not hid.”— (Psalm 32:5)

But in this place he is not speaking so much of his repentance, as he is bewailing his sad and miserable condition; and, therefore, sin and iniquity are to be understood of the afflictions and chastisements which are the tokens of God’s wrath; as if he had said, that the hand of God was against him, and lying so heavily upon him, that from the very sight of the misery to which he was reduced, the world in general might regard him as a condemned and reprobate man. In order to render the meaning more obvious, the 18th and 19th verses must be read together, thus: I declare my iniquity, and my enemies are living; I am dismayed because of my sin, but they are become strong. I do not, however, deny that he regards the miseries to which he was subjected as proceeding from his sins. In this respect, the godly differ from the wicked, that, being admonished of their transgression by adversity, they humbly sist themselves before the judgment-seat of God. Accordingly, judging of the cause from the effects, he takes into account these two things: First, That thus overwhelmed and afflicted, he is lying under a heavy load of miseries; and, secondly, That all these evils are justly inflicted as chastisements for sin.