Psalm 38

    A psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.

  1. 38O Lord, rebuke me not in your wrath, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure, 2for your arrows stick fast in me and your hand presses me heavily. 3There is no soundness in my flesh because of your anger, neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. 4For my iniquities have gone over my head; as a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. 5My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. 6I am troubled. I am bowed down greatly. I go mourning all the day long, 7for my loins are filled with a loathsome distress and no soundness is found in my flesh. 8I am feeble, and broken, and very sore. I have wept by reason of the groaning of my heart. 9Lord, all my desire is before you and my groaning is not hidden from you. 10My heart pants; my strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me.
  2. 11My loved ones and my friends stand aloof because of my sore, and my kinsmen stand afar off. 12They 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. 13But I, as a deaf man, heard not, and I was as a dumb man that opens not his mouth. 14Thus, I was as a man that hears not and in whose mouth are no reproofs. 15For in you, O Lord, do I hope. You will hear, O Lord my God, 16for I said, Hear me lest otherwise they should rejoice over me. When my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me; 17for I am ready to stumble and my sorrow is continually before me. 18For I will declare my iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin. 19But my enemies are lively, and they are strong, and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied. 20They also that render evil for good are my adversaries because I follow the thing that good is. 21Forsake me not, O Lord. O my God, be not far from me. 22Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.