Psalms 38

I confess my iniquity

Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. ²Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me. ³Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.

⁴My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.a ⁵My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. ⁶I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.

⁷My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. ⁸I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. ⁹All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.b

¹⁰My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes. ¹¹My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away.c ¹²Those who want to kill me set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they scheme and lie.d

¹³I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, like the mute, who cannot speak; ¹⁴I have become like one who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply. ¹⁵Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.

¹⁶For I said, “Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.” ¹⁷For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me. ¹⁸I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.

¹⁹Many have become my enemies without cause; those who hate me without reason are numerous. ²⁰Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me, though I seek only to do what is good.e ²¹Lord, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God.

²²Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.f