Psalm 38

A Psalm of David; to bring to remembrance and make memorial.

¹ O Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath, neither chasten me in Your hot displeasure.

² For Your arrows have sunk into me and stick fast, and Your hand has come down upon me and pressed me sorely.

³ There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; neither is there any health or rest in my bones because of my sin.

⁴ For my iniquities have gone over my head [like waves of a flood]; as a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.

⁵ My wounds are loathsome and corrupt because of my foolishness.

⁶ I am bent and bowed down greatly; I go about mourning all the day long.

⁷ For my loins are filled with burning; and there is no soundness in my flesh.

⁸ I am faint and sorely bruised [deadly cold and quite worn out]; I groan by reason of the disquiet and moaning of my heart.

³ She has sent out her maids to cry from the highest places of the town:

⁴ Whoever is simple (easily led astray and wavering), let him turn in here! As for him who lacks understanding, [God’s] Wisdom says to him,

⁵ Come, eat of my bread and drink of the [spiritual] wine which I have mixed.^(A)

⁶ Leave off, simple ones [forsake the foolish and simpleminded] and live! And walk in the way of insight and understanding.

³¹ When the Son of Man comes in His glory (His majesty and splendor), and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

³² All nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them [the people] from one another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats;^(A)

³³ And He will cause the sheep to stand at His right hand, but the goats at His left.

³⁴ Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father [you ^[a]favored of God and appointed to eternal salvation], inherit (receive as your own) the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you ^[b]brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and ^[c]lodged Me,

³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me ^[d]with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me.^(B)

³⁷ Then the just and upright will answer Him, Lord, when did we see You hungry and gave You food, or thirsty and gave You something to drink?

³⁸ And when did we see You a stranger and welcomed and entertained You, or naked and clothed You?

³⁹ And when did we see You sick or in prison and came to visit You?

⁴⁰ And the King will reply to them, Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least [^[e]in the estimation of men] of these My brethren, you did it for Me.^(C)

⁴¹ Then He will say to those at His left hand, Begone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!

⁴² For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,

⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me and entertain Me, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me ^[f]with help and ministering care.

⁴⁴ Then they also [in their turn] will answer, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?

⁴⁵ And He will reply to them, Solemnly I declare to you, in so far as you failed to do it for the least [^[g]in the estimation of men] of these, you failed to do it for Me.^(D)

⁴⁶ Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are just and upright and in right standing with God into eternal life.^(E)

²¹ But now the righteousness of God has been revealed independently and altogether apart from the Law, although actually it is attested by the Law and the Prophets,

²² Namely, the righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ (the Messiah). [And it is meant] for all who believe. For there is no distinction,

²³ Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory ^[a]which God bestows and receives.

²⁴ [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,

²⁵ Whom God put forward [^[b]before the eyes of all] as a mercy seat and propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former sins without punishment.

²⁶ It was to demonstrate and prove at the present time (^[c]in the now season) that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has [true] faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Then what becomes of [our] pride and [our] boasting? It is excluded (banished, ruled out entirely). On what principle? [On the principle] of doing good deeds? No, but on the principle of faith.

²⁸ For we hold that a man is justified and made upright by faith independent of and distinctly apart from good deeds (works of the Law). [The observance of the Law has nothing to do with justification.]

²⁹ Or is God merely [the God] of Jews? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,

³⁰ Since it is one and the same God Who will justify the circumcised by faith [^[d]which germinated from Abraham] and the uncircumcised through their [newly acquired] faith. [For it is the same trusting faith in both cases, a firmly relying faith in Jesus Christ].

³¹ Do we then by [this] faith make the Law of no effect, overthrow it or make it a dead letter? Certainly not! On the contrary, we confirm and establish and uphold the Law.