Psalm 38

Do Not Forsake Me, O Lord

A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.

¹O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,

nor discipline me in your wrath!

²For your arrows have sunk into me,

and your hand has come down on me.

³There is no soundness in my flesh

because of your indignation;

there is no health in my bones

because of my sin.

⁴For my iniquities have gone over my head;

like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

⁵My wounds stink and fester

because of my foolishness,

⁶I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;

all the day I go about mourning.

⁷For my sides are filled with burning,

and there is no soundness in my flesh.

⁸I am feeble and crushed;

I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

⁹O Lord, all my longing is before you;

my sighing is not hidden from you.

¹⁰My heart throbs; my strength fails me,

and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.

¹¹My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague,

and my nearest kin stand far off.

¹²Those who seek my life lay their snares;

those who seek my hurt speak of ruin

and meditate treachery all day long.

¹³But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear,

like a mute man who does not open his mouth.

¹⁴I have become like a man who does not hear,

and in whose mouth are no rebukes.

¹⁵But for you, O Lord, do I wait;

it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

¹⁶For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me,

who boast against me when my foot slips!”

¹⁷For I am ready to fall,

and my pain is ever before me.

¹⁸I confess my iniquity;

I am sorry for my sin.

¹⁹But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty,

and many are those who hate me wrongfully.

²⁰Those who render me evil for good

accuse me because I follow after good.

²¹Do not forsake me, O Lord!

O my God, be not far from me!

²²Make haste to help me,

O Lord, my salvation!