Psalm 38-39

New King James Version

Prayer in Time of Chastening

A Psalm of David. ^(A)To bring to remembrance.

38 O Lord, do not ^(B)rebuke me in Your wrath,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!
²For Your arrows pierce me deeply,
And Your hand presses me down.

³There is no soundness in my flesh
Because of Your anger,
Nor any 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 are foul and festering
Because of my foolishness.

⁶I am ^[a]troubled, I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day long.
⁷For my loins are full of inflammation,
And there is no soundness in my flesh.
⁸I am feeble and severely broken;
I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.

⁹Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.
¹⁰My heart pants, my strength fails me;
As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.

¹¹My loved ones and my friends ^(C)stand aloof from my plague,
And my relatives stand afar off.
¹²Those also who seek my life lay snares for me;
Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction,
And plan deception all the day long.

¹³But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.
¹⁴Thus I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth is no response.

¹⁵For ^[b]in You, O Lord, ^(D)I hope;
You will ^[c]hear, O Lord my God.
¹⁶For I said, “Hear me, lest they rejoice over me,
Lest, when my foot slips, they exalt themselves against me.”

¹⁷^(E)For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continually before me.
¹⁸For I will ^(F)declare my iniquity;
I will be ^(G)in ^[d]anguish over my sin.
¹⁹But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong;
And those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied.
²⁰Those also ^(H)who render evil for good,
They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.

²¹Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, ^(I)be not far from me!
²²Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!

Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness

To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

39 I said, “I will guard my ways,
Lest I sin with my ^(J)tongue;
I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,
While the wicked are before me.”
²^(K)I was mute with silence,
I held my peace even from good;
And my sorrow was stirred up.
³My heart was hot within me;
While I was ^[e]musing, the fire burned.
Then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴“Lord, ^(L)make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
⁵Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,
And my age is as nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but ^(M)vapor. Selah
⁶Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they ^[f]busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them.

⁷“And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My ^(N)hope is in You.
⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Do not make me ^(O)the reproach of the foolish.
⁹^(P)I was mute, I did not open my mouth,
Because it was ^(Q)You who did it.
¹⁰^(R)Remove Your plague from me;
I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.
¹¹When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,
You make his beauty ^(S)melt away like a moth;
Surely every man is vapor. Selah

¹²“Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And give ear to my cry;
Do not be silent at my tears;
For I am a stranger with You,
A sojourner, ^(T)as all my fathers were.
¹³^(U)Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength,
Before I go away and ^(V)am no more.”