Psalm 38

Prayer of a Suffering Sinner

A psalm of David to bring remembrance.(A)

Lord, do not punish me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.(B)
For your arrows have sunk into me,
and your hand has pressed down on me.(C)

There is no soundness in my body
because of your indignation;
there is no health[a] in my bones
because of my sin.(D)
For my iniquities have flooded over my head;
they are a burden too heavy for me to bear.(E)
My wounds are foul and festering
because of my foolishness.(F)
I am bent over and brought very low;
all day long I go around in mourning.(G)
For my insides are full of burning pain,
and there is no soundness in my body.(H)
I am faint and severely crushed;
I groan because of the anguish of my heart.(I)

Lord, my every desire is in front of you;
my sighing is not hidden from you.(J)
10 My heart races, my strength leaves me,
and even the light of my eyes has faded.[b](K)
11 My loved ones and friends stand back from my affliction,
and my relatives stand at a distance.(L)
12 Those who intend to kill me set traps,
and those who want to harm me threaten to destroy me;
they plot treachery all day long.(M)

13 I am like a deaf person; I do not hear.
I am like a speechless person
who does not open his mouth.(N)
14 I am like a man who does not hear
and has no arguments in his mouth.(O)
15 For I put my hope in you, Lord;
you will answer me, my Lord, my God.(P)
16 For I said, “Don’t let them rejoice over me—
those who are arrogant toward me when I stumble.”(Q)
17 For I am about to fall,
and my pain is constantly with me.(R)
18 So I confess my iniquity;
I am anxious because of my sin.(S)
19 But my enemies are vigorous and powerful;[c]
many hate me for no reason.(T)
20 Those who repay evil for good
attack me for pursuing good.(U)

21 Lord, do not abandon me;
my God, do not be far from me.(V)
22 Hurry to help me,
my Lord, my salvation.(W)

Footnotes

  1. 38:3 Hb shalom
  2. 38:10 Or and the light of my eyes—even that is not with me
  3. 38:19 Or numerous

True Relationships

19 Then his mother and brothers(A) came to him,(B) but they could not meet with him because of the crowd. 20 He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”

21 But he replied to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear and do the word of God.”(C)

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Sin’s Use of the Law

What should we say then?(A) Is the law sin? Absolutely not!(B) But I would not have known sin if it were not for the law.(C) For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.[a](D) And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment,(E) produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.(F) Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again 10 and I died. The commandment that was meant for life(G) resulted in death for me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me,(H) and through it killed me. 12 So then, the law is holy,(I) and the commandment is holy and just and good. 13 Therefore, did what is good become death to me? Absolutely not!(J) But sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.

The Problem of Sin in Us

14 For we know that the law is spiritual,(K) but I am of the flesh,[b] sold(L) as a slave under sin.(M) 15 For I do not understand what I am doing,(N) because I do not practice what I want to do,(O) but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.(P) For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21 So I discover this law:[c](Q) When I want to do what is good,[d] evil is present with me. 22 For in my inner self[e] I delight in God’s law,(R) 23 but I see a different law in the parts of my body,[f](S) waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?(T) 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!(U) So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.

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Footnotes

  1. 7:7 Ex 20:17
  2. 7:14 Or unspiritual
  3. 7:21 Or principle
  4. 7:21 Or I find with respect to the law that when I want to do good
  5. 7:22 Lit inner man
  6. 7:23 Lit my members

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