Chapter 38
O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
(Title
&) This deeply penitential Psalm is supposed to have been composed by David under some grievous affliction, either bodily or mental, or both, after his illicit intercourse with Bathsheba.
to bring
70:1 *title
rebuke
6:1 88:7,15,16 Isaiah 27:8 54:8 Jeremiah 10:24 30:11 Habakkuk 3:2 Hebrews 12:5-11
hot
For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.
thine
21:12 64:7 Job 6:4 Lamentations 3:12
thy hand
32:4 39:10,11 Deuteronomy 2:15 Ruth 1:13 1 Samuel 5:6,11 6:9
There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.
soundness
31:9 2 Chronicles 26:19 Job 2:7,8 33:19-22 Isaiah 1:5,6
neither
rest
Heb. peace, or, health. because.
51:8 90:7,8 Lamentations 3:40-42
For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
mine
as an
Leviticus 7:18 Isaiah 53:11 Lamentations 1:14 Matthew 11:28 1 Peter 2:24
My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.
My wounds
The soul being invisible, its distempers are also so; therefore the sacred writers describe them by the distempers of the body. (See the Parallel Texts on these verses.) On reading these and similar passages, say Bp. Lowth, some, who were but little acquainted with the genius of Hebrew poetry, have pretended to enquire into the nature of the disease with which the poet was afflicted; not less absurdly, in my opinion, than if they had perplexed themselves to discover in what river he was plunged, when he complains that "the deep waters had gone over his soul."
7 32:3 Isaiah 1:5,6 Jeremiah 8:22
I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
troubled
Heb. wearied. bowed.
35:14 42:5 *marg:; 57:6 145:14
mourning
6:6 31:10 42:9 43:2 88:9 Job 30:28 Isaiah 38:14
For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh.
my loins
41:8 2 Chronicles 21:18,19 Job 7:5 30:18 Acts 12:23
no
Verse 8
I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
roared
22:1,2 32:3 Job 3:24 30:28 Isaiah 59:11
Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.
Lord
Instead of adonay, "Lord," several MSS. read yehowah, "Jehovah."
groaning
102:5,20 John 1:48 Romans 8:22,23,26,27 2 Corinthians 5:2
My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
heart
42:1 119:81-83 143:4-7 Isaiah 21:4
the light
6:7 69:3 88:9 119:123 1 Samuel 14:27-29 Lamentations 2:11 5:16,17
gone from
Heb. not with.
My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.
lovers
31:11 Job 6:21-23 19:13-17 Matthew 26:56 John 16:32
stand
sore
Heb. stroke. kinsmen. or, neighbours. afar off.
They 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.
lay snares
10:9 64:2-5 119:110 140:5 141:9 2 Samuel 17:1-3 Luke 20:19,20
speak
35:20 62:3,4 2 Samuel 16:7,8 Luke 20:21,22
But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.
39:2,9 2 Samuel 16:10-12 Isaiah 53:7 1 Peter 2:23
Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.
that heareth
Amos 5:13 Micah 7:5 Mark 15:3-5 John 8:6
For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.
in thee, etc
or, thee do I wait for. do.
hear
or, answer.
Lord
Here also, instead of adonay, one hundred and two MSS. read yehowah, "Jehovah."
For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.
For I said
foot
magnify
For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.
to halt
Heb. for halting.
35:15 *marg:; Micah 4:6,7
sorrow
For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.
For
32:5 51:3 Job 31:33 33:27 Proverbs 28:13
sorry
But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
But
are lively, etc
Heb. being living are strong. Instead of chaymin, "lively" Bp. Lowth would read chinmon, "without cause:"--"but mine enemies without cause have strengthened themselves." As this emendation renders this member of the sentence parallel to the other, it is by no means improbable: see Ps 35:19; 79:5.
they that
35:19 69:4 Matthew 10:22 John 15:18-25 Acts 4:25-28
They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.
render
7:4 35:12 109:3-5 1 Samuel 19:4-6 23:5,12 25:16,21 Jeremiah 18:20
because
Matthew 5:10 John 10:32 1 Peter 3:13,17,18 4:14-16 1 John 3:12
Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.
O my God
Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.
Make
to help me
Heb. for my help. O Lord.