PSALM 38
1A David psalm, to call to mind.
2LORD, do not rebuke me in Your fury
nor chastise me in Your wrath.
3For Your arrows have come down upon me,
and upon me has come down Your hand.
4There is no whole place in my flesh through Your rage,
no soundness in my limbs through my offense.
5For my crimes have welled over my head,
like a heavy burden, too heavy for me.
6My sores make a stench, have festered
through my folly.
7I am twisted, I am all bent.
All day long I go about gloomy.
8For my innards are filled with burning
and there is no whole place in my flesh.
9I grow numb and am utterly crushed.
I roar from my heart’s churning.
10O Master, before You is all my desire
and my sighs are not hidden from You.
11My heart spins around, my strength forsakes me,
and the light of my eyes, too, is gone from me.
12My friends and companions stand off from my plight
and my kinsmen stand far away.
13They lay snares, who seek my life and want my harm.
They speak lies, deceit utter all day long.
14But like the deaf I do not hear,
and like the mute whose mouth will not open.
15And I become like a man who does not hear
and has no rebuke in his mouth.
16For in You, O LORD, I have hoped.
You will answer, O Master, my God.
17For I thought, “Lest they rejoice over me,
when my foot slips, vaunt over me.”
18For I am ripe for stumbling
and my pain is before me always.
19For my crime I shall tell,
I dread my offense.
20And my wanton enemies grow many,
my unprovoked foes abound.
21And those who pay back good with evil
thwart me for pursuing good.
22Do not forsake me, LORD.
My God, do not stay far from me.
23Hasten to my help,
O Master of my rescue.