Psalms 38
Big idea: A psalm of sickness and guilt that refuses to separate the two. Your arrows have pierced me; there is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, neither health in my bones because of my sin. And it records the social fact that goes with serious illness: my lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague; my kinsmen stand far away. What the psalmist does about the accusations is remarkable — nothing. I am as a deaf man; I am as a mute man who doesn't open his mouth. He stops defending himself entirely and waits.
Psalm 38 goes silent under accusation. Psalm 39 tries the same silence and finds it unbearable.
38:1–12 — There is no soundness in my flesh
The most physically explicit of the penitential psalms, and it refuses every available comfort. The suffering is not blamed on enemies — 'because of my sin', 'because of my foolishness' — and it is not minimised. What makes the movement unbearable is the sequence: the body fails first, and then in verse 11 the friends step back from the plague, so illness costs him company as well as health.
1 A Psalm by David, for a memorial. Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your wrath, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure. 2 For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me. 3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin. 4 For my iniquities have gone over my head. As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. 5 My wounds are loathsome and corrupt because of my foolishness. 6 I am in pain and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long. 7 For my waist is filled with burning. There is no soundness in my flesh. 8 I am faint and severely bruised. I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart. 9 Lord, all my desire is before you. My groaning is not hidden from you. 10 My heart throbs. My strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes, it has also left me. 11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand far away. 12 They also who seek after my life lay snares. Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all day long.
38:13–22 — I am as a man who doesn't hear
The second movement is about a decision not to answer. He describes himself as deaf and mute — not because he cannot reply but because he has chosen to make no defence — and verse 15 gives the reason: the answer is somebody else's job. Then he does the one thing he will say out loud, and it is not a rebuttal. It is a confession. The psalm ends still asking, with nothing resolved.
13 But I, as a deaf man, don’t hear. I am as a mute man who doesn’t open his mouth. 14 Yes, I am as a man who doesn’t hear, in whose mouth are no reproofs. 15 For I hope in you, Yahweh. You will answer, Lord my God. 16 For I said, “Don’t let them gloat over me, or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.” 17 For I am ready to fall. My pain is continually before me. 18 For I will declare my iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin. 19 But my enemies are vigorous and many. Those who hate me without reason are numerous. 20 They who give evil for good are also adversaries to me, because I follow what is good. 21 Don’t forsake me, Yahweh. My God, don’t be far from me. 22 Hurry to help me, Lord, my salvation.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).