Psalms 38:2

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

thine: Psalms 21:12, Psalms 64:7, Job 6:4, Lamentations 3:12

thy hand: Psalms 32:4, Psalms 39:10, Psalms 39:11, Deuteronomy 2:15, Ruth 1:13, 1 Samuel 5:6, 1 Samuel 5:11, 1 Samuel 6:9

Reciprocal: Job 2:5 - put forth Job 19:21 - the hand Job 30:17 - My bones Psalms 45:5 - Thine Psalms 88:16 - fierce Proverbs 18:14 - but Lamentations 3:4 - My flesh Acts 13:11 - hand Romans 7:24 - wretched

Cross-References

Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Genesis 6:2
the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.

Genesis 6:4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and afterward as well, when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.

Genesis 24:3
and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling,

Genesis 34:2
When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.

Genesis 46:12
The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.

Judges 14:2
So he returned and told his father and his mother, "I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife."

Judges 16:1
One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her.

2 Samuel 11:2
One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing-a very beautiful woman.

1 Chronicles 2:3
The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah. These three were born to him by Bath-shua the Canaanite. Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, who put him to death.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For thine arrows stick fast in me,.... Meaning either words with which as a father the Lord rebuked him; and which were sharp and cutting, entered into him and abode with him, and gave him much pain and uneasiness; and by which he concluded that his rebukes were in wrath and hot displeasure; such as those in 2 Samuel 12:11; so the words of men are compared to arrows, Psalms 57:4 or outward afflictions, attended with inward trouble of soul; for as judgments are the arrows of God, such as famine, pestilence, c. Ezekiel 5:16

Deuteronomy 32:21 so the chastening dispensations of Providence, under which the people of God themselves are, are so called, because they oftentimes come swiftly, suddenly, and at unawares, and are very pungent and distressing; and sometimes stick fast and continue long, by reason of which they are inwardly wounded, and conceive of God as sorely displeased with them; see Job 6:4;

and thy hand presseth me sore; the afflicting hand of God, which lay heavy upon him; and is a mighty hand when laid on such worms as mortal sinful men are, who cannot bear up under it, unless they have divine supports; see Job 19:21. This is by some supposed to be some bodily disease inflicted on him; some have thought of the leprosy, which was a stroke from the hand of God; but this is not likely, since he must have been deposed and shut up; the Jews indeed say e that he was a leper six months, and that the divine Presence was taken from him; a late learned man f thinks it was the smallpox, from the unsoundness of his flesh, the soreness of the disease, the stench of it, temporary blindness, and his friends standing aloof from him; though perhaps no other than affliction of mired for sin, comparable to the disease described, is meant.

e In R. Obadiah in loc. f De Laney's Life of King David, vol. 2. p. 146.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For thine arrows stick fast in me - See the notes at Job 6:4. The word rendered “stick fast” - נחת nâchath - means properly to go or come down; to descend; and the literal idea here would be, “thine arrows come down upon me.” It is not so much the idea of their “sticking fast” when in the wound or flesh; it is that they come down upon one, and pierce him. The meaning is, that he was afflicted “as if” God had wounded him with arrows - arrows which pierced deep in his flesh. Compare the notes at Psalms 45:5. The allusion is to the disease with which he was afflicted.

And thy hand presseth me sore - The same word is used here which in the former part of the verse is rendered “stick fast.” The idea is, that the hand of God had “descended” or “come down” upon him, prostrating his strength, and laying him on a bed of pain.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 38:2. Thine arrows stick fast in me — This no doubt, refers to the acute pains which he endured; each appearing to his feeling as if an arrow were shot into his body.