Psalms 38

This is a prayer of David, one of the penitential psalms, written in deep suffering that he links to his own sin. His body is sick, his friends keep away, and his enemies press in. Yet he confesses openly, waits quietly, and cries to the LORD as his Savior.

Psalms 38:1

David opens by asking the LORD not to deal with him in anger. He knows he deserves correction, but he pleads that it not fall in hot wrath. He is asking for mercy, not for escape from the truth about himself.

BSA: discipline (“chasten, correct”): David accepts that God’s correction is real, and asks only that it not come in fury.

See also: Psalm 6:1.

Psalms 38:2

David feels God’s hand as a heavy weight and God’s arrows as sharp wounds. He understands his suffering as coming from God, and it is deep and lasting. The picture is of a man pinned down and unable to move.

BSA: pressed down (“laying heavily”): God’s hand is felt as a crushing weight, not a light touch.

Psalms 38:3

His whole body is unwell and he cannot rest. David ties this suffering to his sin and to God’s displeasure. Sin and sickness here are bound up together in his experience, and body and soul suffer as one.

BSA: soundness (“health, wholeness”): He lacks not just comfort but wholeness; nothing in him is whole.

Psalms 38:4

Guilt is pictured as rising floodwater that goes over his head, and also as a load too heavy to carry. Sin promises freedom but delivers weight. David sees that he cannot lift this by himself.

BSA: overwhelmed (“gone over my head, flooded”): His sins are like a flood that rises above him so that he is drowning.

See also: Psalm 40:12; Matthew 11:28.

Psalms 38:5

His wounds are rotting and give off a foul smell. David does not blame others or excuse himself. He calls the cause his own folly, meaning foolish choices that led him astray from the way of wisdom.

BSA: folly (“foolishness, stupidity, doing foolish things”): He names his sin as foolishness, a refusal of wisdom, not as a mere accident.

Psalms 38:6

Bent over and bowed low, David goes about in sorrow all day. His body shows what his heart feels. There is no hour in which the grief lifts.

BSA: bent (“doubled up in pain”): He is literally curled over with pain and unable to stand upright.

Psalms 38:7

A burning fever fills his lower back, and again he says there is no soundness left in his body. The repetition from verse 3 shows how unrelenting the pain is.

BSA: burning pain (“intensely burning, with fever”): The suffering is a fever-like inflammation that scorches him from inside.

Psalms 38:8

He is worn out and crushed, and his groaning comes from the depths of his heart. The sound of his voice is rough and raw. He has no polished words left, only honest pain.

BSA: groan (“roar, cry out”): His cry is not quiet; it bursts out like a roar of distress.

Psalms 38:9

Even when words fail, David knows that God sees every longing of his heart. He does not have to explain himself. This is a great comfort: the Lord already knows the whole of our need.

BSA: desire (“deepest longings, all my heart’s wishes”): All that he wants is laid open before God, including what he cannot put into words.

See also: Matthew 6:8; Romans 8:26.

Psalms 38:10

His heart races, his strength drains away, and even the brightness of his eyes is gone. He is physically spent. He describes it as a man who has nothing left in himself.

BSA: light (“sight, eyesight”): The sparkle of life in his eyes, and perhaps his sight itself, is dimming.

Psalms 38:11

Those closest to him, friends and relatives, step back from him. His illness makes them keep their distance, and he is left lonely on top of his pain. Only God does not leave. Many readers see here a shadow of Christ, whom friends also abandoned.

BSA: shun (“stand aloof from, avoid”): They deliberately keep away rather than come near to comfort him.

See also: Psalm 31:11; Mark 14:50.

Psalms 38:12

While friends withdraw, enemies move in. They set traps, say ruinous things, and plan lies all day. Weakness invites attack. David is wounded from within and hunted from without.

BSA: snares (“traps, plots”): Their schemes are hidden traps like those set for animals.

Psalms 38:13-14

David answers neither threats nor lies. Like a deaf and mute man, he keeps silent and does not defend himself. His silence is not weakness but trust: he leaves the matter with God instead of arguing back.

BSA: mute man (“unable to speak, silent”): He chooses not to answer, like a man who cannot, and so leaves his case with God.

See also: Isaiah 53:7; 1 Peter 2:23.

Psalms 38:15

This is the turning point of the psalm. David is silent before men but speaks to God. He waits, sure that the LORD will answer. His hope rests on who God is: the LORD, and his own God.

BSA: wait (“hope, trust”): Waiting here is not passive; it is hopeful trust set on God alone.

See also: Psalm 130:5.

Psalms 38:16

David prays because he fears what his enemies will do. If he stumbles, they will rejoice and mock. He asks God to keep them from the pleasure of seeing him fall.

BSA: gloat (“rejoice, triumph”): His enemies would take delight in his ruin and treat it as their victory.

Psalms 38:17

He is close to collapse, and pain never leaves him. David is not exaggerating his case. He is describing how near he is to breaking, which is the very reason he turns to God for help.

BSA: ready to fall (“about to collapse, on the verge of stumbling”): He is at the edge of falling, with nothing left to hold himself up.

Psalms 38:18

David states plainly that he confesses his sin. He does not hide it or explain it away. He is truly sorry for it. Honest confession is the way out of the burden he spoke of in verse 4.

BSA: confess (“freely, willingly”): His admission is open and willing, not dragged out of him.

Hebrew: אַגִּיד (aggid, H5046) — “I declare, I tell.” The Hebrew verb means to tell or declare openly, so confession here is plainly telling God the truth about one’s sin.

See also: Psalm 32:5; 1 John 1:9.

Psalms 38:19

David confesses his sin before God, yet he insists that his enemies have no just cause against him. Before God he is guilty, but before these men he has done no wrong to deserve their hatred. They are many and strong.

BSA: without cause (“without reason, unprovoked”): Their hatred has no fair ground; it was not earned by anything he did to them.

See also: John 15:25.

Psalms 38:20

They return evil for the good he has done. The very fact that he pursues what is right makes them oppose him. People who live uprightly sometimes find that goodness itself stirs up hostility.

BSA: pursuing (“following, seeking after”): Following what is good is his steady aim, and that aim is what they resent.

See also: Psalm 35:12; 1 Peter 3:13-14.

Psalms 38:21

Now he prays two things: do not abandon me, and do not stay far away. His friends and relatives stand at a distance, so he asks that God, at least, come near.

BSA: forsake (“abandon, give up on”): His deepest fear is being left entirely alone, without even God.

See also: Psalm 22:11; Hebrews 13:5.

Psalms 38:22

The psalm ends in a short, urgent cry: come quickly. Having confessed and waited, David calls God his Lord and Savior. He ends with trust in the One who rescues, not with his pain.

BSA: Savior (“deliverer, rescuer”): God is the one who actually lifts him out of trouble and sets him free.

Hebrew: תְּשׁוּעָתִי (teshuati, H8668) — “my salvation.” The Hebrew says literally ‘Lord of my salvation,’ which makes God himself the source of David’s rescue.

See also: Psalm 27:1.