Psalms 38:9

THE MESSAGE

Lord, my longings are sitting in plain sight, my groans an old story to you. My heart's about to break; I'm a burned-out case. Cataracts blind me to God and good; old friends avoid me like the plague. My cousins never visit, my neighbors stab me in the back. My competitors blacken my name, devoutly they pray for my ruin. But I'm deaf and mute to it all, ears shut, mouth shut. I don't hear a word they say, don't speak a word in response. What I do, God , is wait for you, wait for my Lord, my God—you will answer! I wait and pray so they won't laugh me off, won't smugly strut off when I stumble.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Lord, my every desire is in front of you;my sighing is not hidden from you.

Hebrew Names Version
Lord, all my desire is before you. My groaning is not hidden from you.

King James Version
Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.

English Standard Version
O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you.

New Century Version
Lord, you know everything I want; my cries are not hidden from you.

New English Translation
O Lord, you understand my heart's desire; my groaning is not hidden from you.

Amplified Bible
Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You.

New American Standard Bible
Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You.

World English Bible
Lord, all my desire is before you. My groaning is not hidden from you.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Lorde, I powre my whole desire before thee, and my sighing is not hid from thee.

Legacy Standard Bible
Lord, all my desire is before You;And my sighing is not hidden from You.

Berean Standard Bible
O Lord, my every desire is before You; my groaning is not hidden from You.

Contemporary English Version
You, Lord, know every one of my deepest desires, and my noisy groans are no secret to you.

Complete Jewish Bible
I am numb, completely crushed; my anguished heart makes me groan aloud.

Darby Translation
Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my sighing is not hid from thee.

Easy-to-Read Version
My Lord, you heard my groaning. You can hear my sighs.

George Lamsa Translation
O LORD, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hidden from thee.

Good News Translation
O Lord, you know what I long for; you hear all my groans.

Lexham English Bible
O Lord, all my longing is before you, and my sighing is not hidden from you.

Literal Translation
My Lord, all my desire is before You, and my sighing is not hidden from You.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
LORDE, thou knowest all my desyre, & my gronynge is not hyd from the.

American Standard Version
Lord, all my desire is before thee; And my groaning is not hid from thee.

Bible in Basic English
Lord, all my desire is before you; my sorrow is not kept secret from you.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
I am benumbed and sore crushed; I groan by reason of the moaning of my heart.

King James Version (1611)
Lord, all my desire is before thee: and my groning is not hid from thee.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Lorde thou knowest all my desire: and my gronyng is not hyd from thee.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hidden from thee.

English Revised Version
Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lord, al my desire is bifor thee; and my weilyng is not hid fro thee.

Update Bible Version
Lord, all my desire is before you; And my groaning is not hid from you.

Webster's Bible Translation
Lord, all my desire [is] before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.

New King James Version
Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You.

New Living Translation
You know what I long for, Lord; you hear my every sigh.

New Life Bible
Lord, all my desire is before You. And my breathing deep within is not hidden from You.

New Revised Standard
O Lord, all my longing is known to you; my sighing is not hidden from you.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
O My Lord! before thee, is all my longing, and, my sighing, from thee, hath not been hid:

Douay-Rheims Bible
(37-10) Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hidden from thee.

Revised Standard Version
Lord, all my longing is known to thee, my sighing is not hidden from thee.

Young's Literal Translation
Lord, before Thee [is] all my desire, And my sighing from Thee hath not been hid.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You.

Contextual Overview

¹A David Psalm Take a deep breath, God ; calm down— don't be so hasty with your punishing rod. Your sharp-pointed arrows of rebuke draw blood; my backside smarts from your caning. ³I've lost twenty pounds in two months because of your accusation. My bones are brittle as dry sticks because of my sin. I'm swamped by my bad behavior, collapsed under gunnysacks of guilt. ⁵The cuts in my flesh stink and grow maggots because I've lived so badly. And now I'm flat on my face feeling sorry for myself morning to night. All my insides are on fire, my body is a wreck. I'm on my last legs; I've had it— my life is a vomit of groans. ⁹Lord, my longings are sitting in plain sight, my groans an old story to you. My heart's about to break; I'm a burned-out case. Cataracts blind me to God and good; old friends avoid me like the plague. My cousins never visit, my neighbors stab me in the back. My competitors blacken my name, devoutly they pray for my ruin. But I'm deaf and mute to it all, ears shut, mouth shut. I don't hear a word they say, don't speak a word in response. What I do, God , is wait for you, wait for my Lord, my God—you will answer! I wait and pray so they won't laugh me off, won't smugly strut off when I stumble.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Lord: Instead of adonay, "Lord," several manuscripts read yehowah, "Jehovah."

groaning: Psalms 102:5, Psalms 102:20, John 1:48, Romans 8:22, Romans 8:23, Romans 8:26, Romans 8:27, 2 Corinthians 5:2

Reciprocal: Psalms 6:6 - I am Psalms 69:5 - hid Psalms 69:19 - mine Matthew 6:8 - your Luke 8:47 - when 2 Corinthians 7:11 - vehement

Cross-References

Ruth 1:11
But Naomi was firm: "Go back, my dear daughters. Why would you come with me? Do you suppose I still have sons in my womb who can become your future husbands? Go back, dear daughters—on your way, please! I'm too old to get a husband. Why, even if I said, ‘There's still hope!' and this very night got a man and had sons, can you imagine being satisfied to wait until they were grown? Would you wait that long to get married again? No, dear daughters; this is a bitter pill for me to swallow—more bitter for me than for you. God has dealt me a hard blow."

Proverbs 27:4
We're blasted by anger and swamped by rage, but who can survive jealousy?

Titus 3:3
It wasn't so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God's gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there's more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this. I want you to put your foot down. Take a firm stand on these matters so that those who have put their trust in God will concentrate on the essentials that are good for everyone. Stay away from mindless, pointless quarreling over genealogies and fine print in the law code. That gets you nowhere. Warn a quarrelsome person once or twice, but then be done with him. It's obvious that such a person is out of line, rebellious against God. By persisting in divisiveness he cuts himself off. As soon as I send either Artemas or Tychicus to you, come immediately and meet me in Nicopolis. I've decided to spend the winter there. Give Zenas the lawyer and Apollos a hearty send-off. Take good care of them. Our people have to learn to be diligent in their work so that all necessities are met (especially among the needy) and they don't end up with nothing to show for their lives. All here want to be remembered to you. Say hello to our friends in the faith. Grace to all of you.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Lord, all my desire [is] before thee,.... To be delivered from his afflictions, to have a discovery and application of pardoning grace, and to have communion with his God: the desire of his soul was unto these things; and it was some satisfaction to him that it was before the Lord, and known unto him, before whom all things are naked and open;

and my groaning is not hid from thee; under the weight of his affliction, the burden of his sin, and which he expressed in prayer to the Lord, and which is often done with groanings which cannot be uttered: but even these are known and understood by the Lord.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Lord, all my desire is before thee - That is, Thou knowest all that I would ask or that I need. This is the expression of one who felt that his only hope was in God, and that He fully understood the case. There was no need of repeating the request. He was willing to leave the whole case with God.

And my groaning is not hid from thee - My sighing; the expression of my sorrow and anguish. As God certainly heard these sighs, and as He wholly understood the case, David hoped that He would mercifully interpose in his behalf.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 38:9. Lord, all my desire is before thee — I long for nothing so much as thy favour; and for this my heart is continually going out after thee. Instead of אדני Adonai, Lord, several of Dr. Kennicott's MSS. have יהוהYehovah.