Psalm 38

Prayer in Time of Chastening

A Psalm of David. aTo Bring to Remembrance.

1 O Lord, do not brebuke me in Your wrath,

Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!

2 For Your arrows pierce me deeply,

And Your hand presses me down.

3 There is no soundness in my flesh

Because of Your anger,

Nor any health in my bones

Because of my sin.

4 For my iniquities have gone over my head;

Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

5 My wounds are foul and festering

Because of my foolishness.

6 I am 1troubled, I am bowed down greatly;

I go mourning all the day long.

7 For my loins are full of inflammation,

And there is no soundness in my flesh.

8 I am feeble and severely broken;

I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.

9 Lord, all my desire is before You;

And my sighing is not hidden from You.

10 My heart pants, my strength fails me;

As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.

11 My loved ones and my friends cstand aloof from my plague,

And my relatives stand afar off.

12 Those also who seek my life lay snares for me;

Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction,

And plan deception all the day long.

13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;

And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.

14 Thus I am like a man who does not hear,

And in whose mouth is no response.

15 For 2in You, O Lord, dI hope;

You will 3hear, O Lord my God.

16 For I said, “Hear me, lest they rejoice over me,

Lest, when my foot slips, they exalt themselves against me.”

17 eFor I am ready to fall,

And my sorrow is continually before me.

18 For I will fdeclare my iniquity;

I will be gin 4anguish over my sin.

19 But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong;

And those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied.

20 Those also hwho render evil for good,

They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.

21 Do not forsake me, O Lord;

O my God, ibe not far from me!

22 Make haste to help me,

O Lord, my salvation!

Psalm 39

Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness

To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

1 I said, “I will guard my ways, Lest I sin with my atongue;

I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,

While the wicked are before me.”

2 bI was mute with silence,

I held my peace even from good;

And my sorrow was stirred up.

3 My heart was hot within me;

While I was 1musing, the fire burned.

Then I spoke with my tongue:

4 “Lord, cmake me to know my end,

And what is the measure of my days,

That I may know how frail I am.

5 Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,

And my age is as nothing before You;

Certainly every man at his best state is but dvapor.

Selah

6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow;

Surely they 2busy themselves in vain;

He heaps up riches,

And does not know who will gather them.

7 “And now, Lord, what do I wait for?

My ehope is in You.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions;

Do not make me fthe reproach of the foolish.

9 gI was mute, I did not open my mouth,

Because it was hYou who did it.

10 iRemove Your plague from me;

I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.

11 When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,

You make his beauty jmelt away like a moth;

Surely every man is vapor.

Selah

12 “Hear my prayer, O Lord,

And give ear to my cry;

Do not be silent at my tears;

For I am a stranger with You,

A sojourner, kas all my fathers were.

13 lRemove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength,

Before I go away and mam no more.”

Psalm 40

Faith Persevering in Trial

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1 I awaited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me,

And heard my cry.

2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,

Out of bthe miry clay,

And cset my feet upon a rock,

And established my steps.

3 dHe has put a new song in my mouth—

Praise to our God;

Many will see it and fear,

And will trust in the Lord.

4 eBlessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,

And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

5 fMany, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works

Which You have done;

gAnd Your thoughts toward us

Cannot be recounted to You in order;

If I would declare and speak of them,

They are more than can be numbered.

6 hSacrifice and offering You did not desire;

My ears You have opened.

Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.

7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;

In the scroll of the book it is written of me.

8 iI delight to do Your will, O my God,

And Your law is jwithin my heart.”

9 kI have proclaimed the good news of righteousness

In the great assembly;

Indeed, lI do not restrain my lips,

O Lord, You Yourself know.

10 mI have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;

I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;

I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth

From the great assembly.

11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord;

nLet Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.

12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;

oMy iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;

They are more than the hairs of my head;

Therefore my heart fails me.

13 pBe pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;

O Lord, make haste to help me!

14 qLet them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion

Who seek to destroy my 1life;

Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor

Who wish me evil.

15 Let them be rconfounded because of their shame,

Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

16 sLet all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;

Let such as love Your salvation tsay continually,

“The Lord be magnified!”

17 uBut I am poor and needy;

vYet the Lord thinks upon me.

You are my help and my deliverer;

Do not delay, O my God.

Psalm 41

The Blessing and Suffering of the Godly

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1 Blessed is he who considers the 1poor;

The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

2 The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive,

And he will be blessed on the earth;

aYou will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.

3 The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness;

You will 2sustain him on his sickbed.

4 I said, “Lord, be merciful to me;

bHeal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

5 My enemies speak evil of me:

“When will he die, and his name perish?”

6 And if he comes to see me, he speaks 3lies;

His heart gathers iniquity to itself;

When he goes out, he tells it.

7 All who hate me whisper together against me;

Against me they 4devise my hurt.

8 “An 5evil disease,” they say, “clings to him.

And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”

9 cEven my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,

dWho ate my bread,

Has 6lifted up his heel against me.

10 But You, O Lord, be merciful to me, and raise me up,

That I may repay them.

11 By this I know that You are well pleased with me,

Because my enemy does not triumph over me.

12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,

And eset me before Your face forever.

13 fBlessed be the Lord God of Israel

From everlasting to everlasting!

Amen and Amen.