1LORD, don’t correct me when you are angry. Don’t punish me when you are burning with anger.2You have wounded me with your arrows. You have struck me with your hand.3Because of your anger, my whole body is ill. Because of my sin, I’m not healthy.4My guilt has become too much for me. It is a load too heavy to carry.5My wounds are ugly. They stink. I’ve been foolish. I have sinned.6I am bent over. I’ve been brought very low. All day long I go around weeping.7My back is filled with burning pain. My whole body is ill.8I am weak and feel as if I’ve been broken in pieces. I groan because of the great pain in my heart.9Lord, everything I really want is clearly known to you. You always hear me when I sigh.10My heart pounds, and my strength is gone. My eyes can hardly see.11My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds. My neighbours stay far away from me.12Those who are trying to kill me set their traps. Those who want to harm me talk about destroying me. All day long they make their plans and tell their lies.13Like a deaf person, I can’t hear. Like someone who can’t speak, I can’t say a word.14I’m like someone who doesn’t hear. I’m like someone whose mouth can’t make any reply.15LORD, I wait for you to help me. Lord my God, I know you will answer.16I said, ‘Don’t let my enemies have the joy of seeing me fall. Don’t let them boast when my feet slip.’17I am about to fall. My pain never leaves me.18I admit that I have done wrong. I am troubled by my sin.19Though I have done nothing to cause it, many people have become my enemies. They hate me without any reason.20They pay me back with evil, even though I was good to them. They bring charges against me, though I try only to do what is good.21LORD, don’t desert me. My God, don’t be far away from me.22Lord my Saviour, come quickly to help me.
Psalm 38
English Standard Version
Do Not Forsake Me, O Lord
1A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering. O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath! (1Ch 16:4; Ps 6:1; Ps 70:1)2For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me. (Job 6:4; Ps 32:4)3There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. (Ps 31:10; Isa 1:6)4For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. (Ezr 9:6; Ps 40:12)5My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness,6I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning. (Job 30:28; Ps 35:14; Ps 42:5; Ps 42:11; Ps 43:5; Isa 21:3)7For my sides are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. (Ps 38:3)8I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart. (Ps 22:1)9O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. (Ps 6:6)10My heart throbs; my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me. (Ps 6:7)11My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off. (Job 19:13; Ps 39:10; Ps 88:18; Isa 53:4; Isa 53:8; Mt 27:55; Mr 15:40; Lu 10:31; Lu 23:49)12Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long. (2Sa 16:7; 2Sa 17:1; Ps 35:20; Mt 22:15; Mr 12:13; Lu 20:20)13But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth. (Ps 39:2; Ps 39:9; Isa 53:7; 1Pe 2:23)14I have become like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no rebukes. (Job 23:4)15But for you, O Lord, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. (2Sa 16:12; Ps 39:7)16For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me, who boast against me when my foot slips!” (Job 19:5; Ps 13:4; Ps 94:18)17For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me. (Ps 35:15; Jer 20:10)18I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin. (Ps 32:5; 2Co 7:9)19But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully. (Ps 35:19)20Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good. (Ps 35:12; Ps 109:4; 3Jo 1:11)21Do not forsake me, O Lord! O my God, be not far from me! (Ps 10:1)22Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation! (Ps 27:1; Ps 40:13)