Psalms 38

1 Yahweh, when you are angry [with me], do not rebuke/scold me and punish me!

O lord, rebuke me not in your wrath: neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.

2 [Now it is as though] you have shot your arrows at me and wounded me; you have struck me and knocked me down.

For your arrows stick fast in me, and your hand presses me sore.

3 Because you have been angry with me, I am suffering great pain. Because of my sin, my whole body is diseased.

There is no soundness in my flesh because of your anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.

4 All my sins are [like a flood] that covers my head; they are like a load that is very heavy, with the result that I cannot carry it.

For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

5 Because I have done foolish things, I have sores that have become worse, and they stink.

My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.

6 [Sometimes] I am bent over, and [sometimes] I lie prostrate; I am sad/cry all day.

I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.

7 My body is burning with fever, and I am very ill.

For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh.

8 I am completely exhausted, and I have no strength. I am very distressed, and I groan with pain.

I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the chaos of my heart.

9 Yahweh, you know that I desire [to be healed]; you hear me while I am groaning.

Lord, all my desire is before you; and my groaning is not hid from you.

10 My heat is pounding heavily, and all my strength is gone. I am no longer able to see well.

My heart pants, my strength fails me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.

11 My friends and neighbors stay away from me because of my sores; even my own family stays away from me.

My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand far off.

12 And those who want to kill me set traps to catch me; those who want to harm me discuss ways to get rid of me; they plot against me all day.

They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.

13 Now I act like I’m deaf, and do not listen [to what they say]. I act like I cannot talk, so I say nothing [to reply to them].

But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that opens not his mouth.

14 I act like a man who does not answer [when people talk to him], because he cannot hear anything.

Thus I was as a man that hears not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.

15 But Yahweh, I trust in you. My Lord God, you will answer me.

For in you, O LORD, do I hope: you will hear, O Lord my God.

16 I said to you, “Do not cause [me to die, with the result that] my enemies will rejoice! Do not cause me to stumble, with the result that they will be very happy!”

For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me.

17 I say that because I am about to fall down, and I constantly have pain.

For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.

18 I confess the wrong things that I have done; I am [very] sorry for the sins that I have committed.

For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.

19 My enemies are healthy and strong; there are many people who hate me for no reason.

But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.

20 Those who do evil things to me in return for my doing good things to them oppose me because I try to do what is right.

They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.

21 Yahweh, do not abandon me! My God, do not stay far from me!

Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.

22 Lord, you are the one who saves/rescues me; Quickly [come and] help me!

Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.