SOTD Psalm 38

Psalm 38

Do Not Forsake Me, O LORD

A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.

¹O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath!
²For your arrows have sunk into me,
and your hand has come down on me.

³There is no soundness in my flesh
because of your indignation;
there is no health in my bones
because of my sin.
⁴For my iniquities have gone over my head;
like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

⁵My wounds stink and fester
because of my foolishness,
⁶I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;
all the day I go about mourning.
⁷For my sides are filled with burning,
and there is no soundness in my flesh.
⁸I am feeble and crushed;
I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

⁹O Lord, all my longing is before you;
my sighing is not hidden from you.
¹⁰My heart throbs; my strength fails me,
and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.
¹¹My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague,
and my nearest kin stand far off.

¹²Those who seek my life lay their snares;
those who seek my hurt speak of ruin
and meditate treachery all day long.

¹³But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear,
like a mute man who does not open his mouth.
¹⁴I have become like a man who does not hear,
and in whose mouth are no rebukes.

¹⁵But for you, O LORD, do I wait;
it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
¹⁶For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me,
who boast against me when my foot slips!”

¹⁷For I am ready to fall,
and my pain is ever before me.
¹⁸I confess my iniquity;
I am sorry for my sin.
¹⁹But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty,
and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
²⁰Those who render me evil for good
accuse me because I follow after good.

²¹Do not forsake me, O LORD!
O my God, be not far from me!
²² Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!