Psalm 38

Psalm 38

A Penitent Sufferer’s Plea for Healing

A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.

¹O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger

or discipline me in your wrath.^*

²For your arrows have sunk into me,

and your hand has come down on me.^*

³There is no soundness in my flesh

because of your indignation;

there is no health in my bones

because of my sin.^*

⁴For my iniquities have gone over my head;

they weigh like a burden too heavy for me.^*

⁵My wounds grow foul and fester

because of my foolishness;^*

⁶I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;

all day long I go around mourning.^*

⁷For my loins are filled with burning,

and there is no soundness in my flesh.^*

⁸I am utterly spent and crushed;

I groan because of the tumult of my heart.^*

⁹O Lord, all my longing is known to you;

my sighing is not hidden from you.^*

¹⁰My heart throbs; my strength fails me;

as for the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.

¹¹My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction,

and my neighbors stand far off.^*

¹²Those who seek my life lay their snares;

those who seek to hurt me speak of ruin

and meditate on treachery all day long.^*

¹³But I am like the deaf; I do not hear;

like the mute, who cannot speak.^*

¹⁴Truly, I am like one who does not hear

and in whose mouth is no retort.

¹⁵But it is for you, O Lord, that I wait;

it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.^*

¹⁶For I pray, “Only do not let them rejoice over me,

those who boast against me when my foot slips.”^*

¹⁷For I am ready to fall,

and my pain is ever with me.^*

¹⁸I confess my iniquity;

I am sorry for my sin.^*

¹⁹Those who are my foes without cause^v are mighty,

and many are those who hate me wrongfully.^*

²⁰Those who render me evil for good

are my adversaries because I follow after good.^*

²¹Do not forsake me, O Lord;

O my God, do not be far from me;^*

²²make haste to help me,

O Lord, my salvation.^*