Psalms 38
1 Yahweh, when you are angry [with me], do not rebuke/scold me and punish me!
A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
2 [Now it is as though] you have shot your arrows at me and wounded me; you have struck me and knocked me down.
For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.
3 Because you have been angry with me, I am suffering great pain. Because of my sin, my whole body is diseased.
There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin.
4 All my sins are [like a flood] that covers my head; they are like a load that is very heavy, with the result that I cannot carry it.
For my iniquities have overwhelmed me; they are a burden too heavy to bear.
5 Because I have done foolish things, I have sores that have become worse, and they stink.
My wounds are foul and festering because of my sinful folly.
6 [Sometimes] I am bent over, and [sometimes] I lie prostrate; I am sad/cry all day.
I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.
7 My body is burning with fever, and I am very ill.
For my loins are full of burning pain, and no soundness remains in my body.
8 I am completely exhausted, and I have no strength. I am very distressed, and I groan with pain.
I am numb and badly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.
9 Yahweh, you know that I desire [to be healed]; you hear me while I am groaning.
O Lord, my every desire is before You; my groaning is not hidden from You.
10 My heat is pounding heavily, and all my strength is gone. I am no longer able to see well.
My heart pounds, my strength fails, and even the light of my eyes has faded.
11 My friends and neighbors stay away from me because of my sores; even my own family stays away from me.
My beloved and friends shun my disease, and my kinsmen stand at a distance.
12 And those who want to kill me set traps to catch me; those who want to harm me discuss ways to get rid of me; they plot against me all day.
Those who seek my life lay snares; those who wish me harm speak destruction, plotting deceit all day long.
13 Now I act like I’m deaf, and do not listen [to what they say]. I act like I cannot talk, so I say nothing [to reply to them].
But like a deaf man, I do not hear; and like a mute man, I do not open my mouth.
14 I act like a man who does not answer [when people talk to him], because he cannot hear anything.
I am like a man who cannot hear, whose mouth offers no reply.
15 But Yahweh, I trust in you. My Lord God, you will answer me.
I wait for You, O LORD; You will answer, O Lord my God.
16 I said to you, “Do not cause [me to die, with the result that] my enemies will rejoice! Do not cause me to stumble, with the result that they will be very happy!”
For I said, “Let them not gloat over me— those who taunt me when my foot slips.”
17 I say that because I am about to fall down, and I constantly have pain.
For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever with me.
18 I confess the wrong things that I have done; I am [very] sorry for the sins that I have committed.
Yes, I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.
19 My enemies are healthy and strong; there are many people who hate me for no reason.
Many are my enemies without cause, and many hate me without reason.
20 Those who do evil things to me in return for my doing good things to them oppose me because I try to do what is right.
Those who repay my good with evil attack me for pursuing the good.
21 Yahweh, do not abandon me! My God, do not stay far from me!
Do not forsake me, O LORD; be not far from me, O my God.
22 Lord, you are the one who saves/rescues me; Quickly [come and] help me!
Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior.
