Bible · Psalms

Psalms 38

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1O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.2For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.3There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.4For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an 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 disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh.8I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.9Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.10My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.11My lovers and my friends stand aloof from 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 openeth not his mouth.14Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.15For in thee, O Lord, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.16For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.17For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.18For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.19But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.20They also that render evil for good are mine 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.

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Notes for this chapter

Historical Background

Psalm 38 stands among the seven great Penitential Psalms of the Hebrew Psalter, a group that includes Psalms 6, 32, 51, 102, 130, and 143, long recognised by both Jewish and Christian traditions as songs of deep contrition and spiritual crisis. The heading dedicates it “to bring to remembrance,” using the Hebrew word lehazkir, which likely refers to a memorial offering connected with temple worship, possibly the grain offering described in Leviticus 2. This suggests the psalm was intended not merely for private devotion but for public liturgical use, where the community could identify with the individual's suffering and confession. Most commentators associate the psalm with David, and many connect it historically with the period of his great sin involving Bathsheba and Uriah, when the consequences of moral failure descended upon him in waves of personal, physical, and relational anguish.

The psalm opens, like Psalm 6, with a plea that God would not deal with the psalmist in raw wrath, acknowledging that discipline is deserved but crying for mercy to temper the chastening hand. This is not a rejection of God's correction but a recognition of human frailty under its full weight.

The early verses move through an almost clinical catalogue of physical suffering that is inseparable from spiritual distress. The arrows of God pressing into the flesh, the crushing weight of the divine hand, the rotting wounds and loathsome disease of the loins, the complete absence of soundness in the body, all of these images would have resonated deeply in the ancient Near Eastern world, where illness was understood as intimately connected to one's relationship with God. Matthew Henry notes that the psalmist does not blame God for being unjust but confesses openly that his sin is the root of his anguish, saying “my wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.” The Hebrew word for foolishness here carries a moral dimension, referring not to mere ignorance but to wilful departure from wisdom and uprightness.

Adam Clarke observes that the physical symptoms described have led some interpreters to see in this psalm a reference to leprosy, the disease most associated in Scripture with ritual uncleanness and social separation, though the language may also be understood metaphorically as describing the total contamination that unchecked sin produces in a person's life. The psalmist is bowed down and goes mourning all the day, a posture of both physical weakness and spiritual grief.

Core Teaching

What makes this psalm particularly moving is the moment in verse 9 where the tone shifts slightly toward trust. Surrounded by physical ruin and with enemies circling, the psalmist turns his face toward God and says simply, “Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.” This is one of the most quietly powerful statements of faith in all the Psalter. The sufferer has no polished argument to make, no impressive credentials to offer, only desire and groan, and yet he believes with complete conviction that God sees both.

Barnes observes that this verse expresses the confidence that God's knowledge of our inner condition is itself a form of help, that to be fully known by a compassionate God is already a beginning of relief. The abandonment of friends and family described in verse 11 would have struck deeply in a culture built on kinship loyalty, where to be forsaken by one's own household in a time of illness or disgrace represented the most profound form of social death. The enemies who compound the suffering by laying snares and imagining deceits form a backdrop that feels very close to what Jesus Himself would later endure, making this psalm one of the richest in its messianic resonance.

Commentary Insights

The psalmist's response to his enemies in verses 13 and 14 is remarkable and often overlooked. Rather than mounting a verbal defence or retaliating with accusations, he becomes like a deaf man who hears nothing and a mute who offers no reproofs. This silence is not passive resignation but an active spiritual discipline, a deliberate choice to leave the matter with God rather than fight his own battles. Ellen White, writing in the context of bearing false accusation, commends exactly this kind of silence, noting that Christ before His accusers answered nothing and that the soul that trusts God can afford to be still when others rage.

The messianic shadow over these verses is unmistakable. The righteous sufferer who endures slander without reply, who is deserted by those closest to Him, and who places all hope in the hearing of God prefigures in remarkable detail the figure of Christ in the Passion narratives, particularly before Pilate and Herod. The great controversy between truth and deception, between the suffering righteous and the triumphant wicked, is drawn in miniature across these few verses.

Reflection & Application

The closing movement of the psalm, from verse 17 through 22, brings together confession, petition, and urgent cry in a single sustained breath. The psalmist declares that he will not hide or minimise his sin but will openly declare his iniquity and be genuinely sorry for it. This is the honest, uncovered repentance that God responds to, not the performance of remorse but the actual willingness to stand before God stripped of self-justification.

Go deeper — references Classic commentaries on this chapter

Matthew Henry's Commentary Matthew Henry (1662–1714) Adam Clarke's Commentary Adam Clarke (1760–1832) Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871) Barnes' Notes on the Bible Albert Barnes (1798–1870) EGW Writings Ellen G. White Blue Letter Bible Study tools and lexicon

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