Psalms 38:16

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹²Those who seek my life lay snares; those who wish me harm speak destruction, plotting deceit all day long. ¹³But like a deaf man, I do not hear; and like a mute man, I do not open my mouth. ¹⁴I am like a man who cannot hear, whose mouth offers no reply. ¹⁵I wait for You, O LORD; You will answer, O Lord my God. ¹⁶For I said, "Let them not gloat over me-those who taunt me when my foot slips."¹⁷For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever with me. ¹⁸Yes, I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. ¹⁹Many are my enemies without cause, and many hate me without reason. ²⁰Those who repay my good with evil attack me for pursuing the good. ²¹Do not forsake me, O LORD; be not far from me, O my God.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

For I said: Psalms 13:3, Psalms 13:4, Psalms 35:24-26

foot: Psalms 94:18, Deuteronomy 32:35

magnify: Psalms 35:26

Reciprocal: Job 19:5 - magnify Psalms 17:5 - that Psalms 27:12 - will Psalms 35:19 - Let Psalms 55:12 - magnify Psalms 73:2 - steps Lamentations 1:21 - they are Lamentations 2:17 - he hath caused Micah 7:8 - Rejoice Zechariah 12:7 - do

Cross-References

Deuteronomy 23:18
You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God.

2 Samuel 13:11
And when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said, "Come, lie with me, my sister!"

Ezekiel 16:33
Men give gifts to all their prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.

Matthew 26:15
and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?" And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.

1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For I said, [hear me],.... This he had expressed in prayer to God; he had committed his cause to him, and entreated him that he would hear and answer him; giving this as a reason,

lest [otherwise] they should rejoice over me; at his misfortunes and calamities, at the continuance of his trouble and distress, both of body and mind;

when my foot slippeth; as it sometimes did through the corruptions of nature, the temptations of Satan, and the snares of the world; which is more or less the case of all the people of God, who are all subject to slips and falls, though they shall not finally and totally fall away;

they magnify [themselves] against me; that is, his enemies exulted and triumphed over him: this was what he found by experience; and therefore makes use of it as an argument with God, that he would hear and answer and deliver him out of his trouble, and preserve him from falling.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For I said - This is the prayer to which he referred in the previous verse. He prayed that he might not be permitted to fall away under the influence of his sins and sufferings; that his faith might remain firm; that he might not be allowed to act so as to justify the accusations of his enemies, or to give them occasion to rejoice over his fall. The entire prayer Psalms 38:16-18 is one that is based on the consciousness of his own weakness, and his liability to sin, if left to himself; on the certainty that if God did not interpose, his sins would get the mastery over him, and he would become in his conduct all that his enemies desired, and be in fact all that they had falsely charged on him.

Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me - literally, “For I said, lest they should rejoice over me.” It is the language of earnest desire that they might “not” thus be allowed to rejoice over his fall. The same sentiment occurs substantially in Psalms 13:3-4. The motive is a right one; alike

(a) in reference to ourselves personally - that our foes may not triumph over us by the ruin of our character; and

(b) in reference to its bearing on the cause of virtue and religion - that that cause may not suffer by our misconduct; compare Psalms 69:6.

When my foot slippeth -

(a) When my foot really has slipped, or when I have committed sin (as the psalmist did not deny that he had done, Psalms 38:3-5, Psalms 38:18); or

(b) when it “might” occur “again” (as he felt was possible); or

(c) if I deviate in the slightest degree from perfect virtue; if I inadvertently do anything wrong.

The slipping of the foot is an indication of the want of firmness, and hence, it comes to represent the falling into sin.

They magnify themselves against me - See Psalms 35:26. They exult over me; they triumph; they boast. They “make themselves great” on my fall, or by my being put down. This he says

(a) they were disposed to do, for they had shown a disposition to do it whenever he had fallen into sin;

(b) he apprehended that they would do it again, and they had already begun to magnify themselves against him, as if they were certain that it would occur.

He did not deny that there was ground to fear this, for he felt that his strength was almost gone Psalms 38:17, and that God only could uphold him, and save him from justifying all the expectations of his enemies.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 38:16. When my foot slippeth — They watched for my halting; and when my foot slipped, they rejoiced that I had fallen into sin!