Psalm 38

A psalm of David. A petition.

¹ O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.

² For your arrows have pierced me,
and your hand has come down upon me.

³ Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
my bones have no soundness because of my sin.

⁴ My guilt has overwhelmed me
like a burden too heavy to bear.

⁵ My wounds fester and are loathsome
because of my sinful folly.

⁶ I am bowed down and brought very low;
all day long I go about mourning.

⁷ My back is filled with searing pain;
there is no health in my body.

⁸ I am feeble and utterly crushed;
I groan in anguish of heart.

⁹ All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you.

¹⁰ My heart pounds, my strength fails me;
even the light has gone from my eyes.

¹¹ My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
my neighbors stay far away.

¹² Those who seek my life set their traps,
those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
all day long they plot deception.

¹³ I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear,
like a mute, who cannot open his mouth;

¹⁴ I have become like a man who does not hear,
whose mouth can offer no reply.

¹⁵ I wait for you, O LORD;
you will answer, O Lord my God.

¹⁶ For I said, “Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.”

¹⁷ For I am about to fall,
and my pain is ever with me.

¹⁸ I confess my iniquity;
I am troubled by my sin.

¹⁹ Many are those who are my vigorous enemies;
those who hate me without reason are numerous.

²⁰ Those who repay my good with evil
slander me when I pursue what is good.

²¹ O LORD, do not forsake me;
be not far from me, O my God.

²² Come quickly to help me,
O Lord my Savior.