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Psalms 38
A sick man begs God not to keep punishing him. His body is the whole landscape here: arrows lodged in his flesh, festering wounds, a burning waist, failing eyes, a heart that throbs and then gives out. He reads the illness as the weight of his own sin pressing down. Watch how he goes deaf and mute on purpose (v.13-14): friends keep their distance, enemies plot, and rather than answer them he stakes everything on God hearing instead. It closes mid-crisis with a plea, not a rescue.
- 1
LORD, 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.
- 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, LORD. 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, LORD. My God, don’t be far from me.
- 22
Hurry to help me, Lord, my salvation.
- 1
Salmo de David, para recordar. JEHOVÁ, no me reprendas en tu furor, ni me castigues en tu ira.
- 2
Porque tus saetas descendieron á mí, y sobre mí ha caído tu mano.
- 3
No hay sanidad en mi carne á causa de tu ira; ni hay paz en mis huesos á causa de mi pecado.
- 4
Porque mis iniquidades han pasado mi cabeza: como carga pesada se han agravado sobre mí.
- 5
Pudriéronse, corrompiéronse mis llagas, á causa de mi locura.
- 6
Estoy encorvado, estoy humillado en gran manera, ando enlutado todo el día.
- 7
Porque mis lomos están llenos de irritación, y no hay sanidad en mi carne.
- 8
Estoy debilitado y molido en gran manera; bramo á causa de la conmoción de mi corazón.
- 9
Señor, delante de ti están todos mis deseos; y mi suspiro no te es oculto.
- 10
Mi corazón está acongojado, hame dejado mi vigor; y aun la misma luz de mis ojos no está conmigo.
- 11
Mis amigos y mis compañeros se quitaron de delante de mi plaga; y mis cercanos se pusieron lejos.
- 12
Y los que buscaban mi alma armaron lazos; y los que procuraban mi mal hablaban iniquidades, y meditaban fraudes todo el día.
- 13
Mas yo, como si fuera sordo, no oía; y estaba como un mudo, que no abre su boca.
- 14
Fuí pues como un hombre que no oye, y que en su boca no tiene reprensiones.
- 15
Porque á ti, oh Jehová, esperé yo: tú responderás, Jehová Dios mío.
- 16
Porque dije: Que no se alegren de mí: cuando mi pie resbalaba, sobre mí se engrandecían.
- 17
Empero yo estoy á pique de claudicar, y mi dolor está delante de mí continuamente.
- 18
Por tanto denunciaré mi maldad; congojaréme por mi pecado.
- 19
Porque mis enemigos están vivos y fuertes: y hanse aumentado los que me aborrecen sin causa:
- 20
Y pagando mal por bien me son contrarios, por seguir yo lo bueno.
- 21
No me desampares, oh Jehová: Dios mío, no te alejes de mí.
- 22
Apresúrate á ayudarme, oh Señor, mi salud.
Confession instead of self-defense
Most laments protest innocence; this one does the opposite. The sufferer ties his pain directly to his guilt ('because of my sin', v.3) and, surrounded by people twisting his words, chooses silence and open confession (v.18) over arguing back.
That turn makes Psalm 38 one of the traditional penitential psalms, and it sets up the next psalm's meditation on a short, frail life lived under God's correcting hand.
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