Psalm 38-41
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!
2 For Your arrows pierce me deeply,
And Your hand presses me down.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh
Because of Your anger,
Nor any health in my bones
Because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head;
Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds are foul and festering
Because of my foolishness.
6 I am [a]troubled, I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day long.
7 For my loins are full of inflammation,
And there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am feeble and severely broken;
I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.
10 My heart pants, my strength fails me;
As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.
11 My loved ones and my friends (C)stand aloof from my plague,
And my relatives stand afar off.
12 Those also who seek my life lay snares for me;
Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction,
And plan deception all the day long.
13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.
14 Thus I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth is no response.
15 For [b]in You, O Lord, (D)I hope;
You will [c]hear, O Lord my God.
16 For 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.
18 For I will (F)declare my iniquity;
I will be (G)in [d]anguish over my sin.
19 But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong;
And those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied.
20 Those also (H)who render evil for good,
They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.
21 Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, (I)be not far from me!
22 Make 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.
3 My 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.
5 Indeed, 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
6 Surely 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.
8 Deliver 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.
11 When 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.”
Faith Persevering in Trial(W)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
40 I (X)waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of (Y)the miry clay,
And (Z)set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3 (AA)He has put a new song in my mouth—
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the Lord.
4 (AB)Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 (AC)Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
(AD)And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
6 (AE)Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 (AF)I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is (AG)within my heart.”
9 (AH)I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, (AI)I do not restrain my lips,
O Lord, You Yourself know.
10 (AJ)I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord;
(AK)Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
(AL)My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
Therefore my heart fails me.
13 (AM)Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
O Lord, make haste to help me!
14 (AN)Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who seek to destroy my [g]life;
Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor
Who wish me evil.
15 Let them be (AO)confounded because of their shame,
Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
16 (AP)Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let such as love Your salvation (AQ)say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
17 (AR)But I am poor and needy;
(AS)Yet the Lord thinks upon me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.
The Blessing and Suffering of the Godly
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
41 Blessed is he who considers the [h]poor;
The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
2 The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive,
And he will be blessed on the earth;
(AT)You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
3 The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness;
You will [i]sustain him on his sickbed.
4 I said, “Lord, be merciful to me;
(AU)Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
5 My enemies speak evil of me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 And if he comes to see me, he speaks [j]lies;
His heart gathers iniquity to itself;
When he goes out, he tells it.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they [k]devise my hurt.
8 “An[l] evil disease,” they say, “clings to him.
And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”
9 (AV)Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
(AW)Who ate my bread,
Has [m]lifted up his heel against me.
10 But You, O Lord, be merciful to me, and raise me up,
That I may repay them.
11 By this I know that You are well pleased with me,
Because my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And (AX)set me before Your face forever.
13 (AY)Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.
Footnotes
- Psalm 38:6 Lit. bent down
- Psalm 38:15 I wait for You, O Lord
- Psalm 38:15 answer
- Psalm 38:18 anxiety
- Psalm 39:3 meditating
- Psalm 39:6 make an uproar for nothing
- Psalm 40:14 Lit. soul
- Psalm 41:1 helpless or powerless
- Psalm 41:3 restore
- Psalm 41:6 empty words
- Psalm 41:7 plot
- Psalm 41:8 Lit. A thing of Belial
- Psalm 41:9 Acted as a traitor
Psalm 53
New King James Version
Folly of the Godless, and the Restoration of Israel(A)
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Mahalath.” A [a]Contemplation of David.
53 The (B)fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;
(C)There is none who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who (D)seek God.
3 Every one of them has turned aside;
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.
4 Have the workers of iniquity (E)no knowledge,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And do not call upon God?
5 (F)There they are in great fear
Where no fear was,
For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you;
You have put them to shame,
Because God has despised them.
6 (G)Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When God brings back [b]the captivity of His people,
Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
Footnotes
- Psalm 53:1 Heb. Maschil
- Psalm 53:6 Or His captive people
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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