Psalms 38:11

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath. ²For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me. ³There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin. ⁴For my iniquities have overwhelmed me; they are a burden too heavy to bear. ⁵My wounds are foul and festering because of my sinful folly. ⁶I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning. ⁷For my loins are full of burning pain, and no soundness remains in my body. ⁸I am numb and badly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. ⁹O Lord, my every desire is before You; my groaning is not hidden from You. ¹⁰My heart pounds, my strength fails, and even the light of my eyes has faded.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

lovers: Psalms 31:11, Job 6:21-23, Job 19:13-17, Matthew 26:56, John 16:32

stand: Luke 10:31, Luke 10:32

sore: Heb. stroke

kinsmen: or, neighbours

afar off: Luke 22:54, Luke 23:49

Reciprocal: Job 6:15 - My brethren Job 19:14 - kinsfolk Psalms 88:18 - Lover Psalms 102:7 - alone Proverbs 19:7 - the brethren Matthew 26:31 - and the Mark 14:33 - and began Mark 14:50 - General Mark 15:40 - women

Cross-References

Genesis 38:11
Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Live as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." For he thought, "He may die too, like his brothers." So Tamar went to live in her father's house.

Genesis 38:13
When Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,"

Leviticus 22:13
But if a priest's daughter with no children becomes widowed or divorced and returns to her father's house, she may share her father's food as in her youth. But no outsider may share it.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore,.... As if it was a plague sore, lest they should be infected with it; or because they could not bear the stench of his wounds, and the loathsomeness of his disease, or to see him in his agonies, and hear his roaring and his groans, Psalms 38:2; or as taking his case to be desperate, as if he was just dying, and no help could be given him, Psalms 38:10; If it was the leprosy, as some Jewish writers have affirmed, the word נגע, translated "sore", being used for the plague of the leprosy, they were obliged by the ceremonial law to keep at a distance from him: but this rather seems to be voluntary, and to proceed from neglect and contempt. These "lovers" and "friends" were such for whom David had had an affection, and had been friendly to, and therefore it was ungrateful in them to act the part they did; and such who had pretended love and friendship to him in his health and prosperity, but now had deserted him, which is a common case; see Job 19:13. Afflictions try men's friends; and as that is a time when friendly visits are most wanting and most useful, so it is an aggravation of the affliction, and makes it the heavier when such are denied;

and my kinsmen stand afar off; that were near to him by the ties of nature or friendship.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

My lovers - See the notes at Psalms 31:11. The reference here is to those who professed to be his friends.

And my friends - The word used here means properly an acquaintance, a companion, a friend, Job 2:11; Job 19:21; then, a lover, a friend, a neighbor. The phrase here would be synonymous with our word “kinsmen.”

Stand aloof - They are unwilling to come near me; they leave me to suffer alone.

From my sore - Margin: “stroke.” The Hebrew word means properly a stroke, a blow, Deuteronomy 17:8; Deuteronomy 21:5; then a stroke in the sense of calamities or judgments, such as God brings upon men: Genesis 12:17; Exodus 11:1. The meaning here is, that they stand aloof from him, or refuse to come near him, as if he were afflicted with some contagious disease.

And my kinsmen - Margin: “neighbors.” The Hebrew word used here - קרוב qârôb - means properly near, nigh; spoken of a place, Genesis 19:20; then of time, Isaiah 13:6; then of kindred or affinity, Numbers 27:11; and then of friendship, meaning our intimate acquaintance - as we should say, those who are “near” to us, Job 19:14. The word would be applicable to neighbors or to warm personal friends.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 38:11. My lovers — Those who professed much affection for me; my friends, רעי reai, my companions, who never before left my company, stand aloof.

My kinsmen — קרובי kerobai, my neighbours, stand afar off. I am deserted by all, and they stand off because of נגעי nigi, my plague. They considered me as suffering under a Divine judgment; and, thinking me an accursed being, they avoided me lest they should be infected by my disease.