O LORD, Do Not Rebuke Me in Your Wrath

David is pleading to God to forgive his wrongdoings which includes sin, iniquities, foolishness. He then describes his weaknesses physically, and perhaps spiritually. The first half of this psalm may be an example of what a person with contrite heart and humble spirit is.

In the second part of the psalm David describes what seem to be an incredibly sorry state where his friends and relatives are of no help or comfort to him. So David turns fully to God and has the confidence that God listens to him. The final verse pleads for God not to forsake him and not be too far from him.


Psalm 38

A Psalm of David. To bring to remembrance.

 1 O LORD, do not 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 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 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 in You, O LORD, I hope;
         You will 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 For I am ready to fall,
         And my sorrow is continually before me.
 18 For I will declare my iniquity;
         I will be in 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 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, be not far from me!
 22 Make haste to help me,
         O Lord, my salvation!