Psalm 38:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me.

NIV: For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me.

NASB: For I am ready to fall, And my sorrow is continually before me.

CSB: For I am about to fall, and my pain is constantly with me.

NLT: I am on the verge of collapse, facing constant pain.

KJV: For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.

NKJV: For I am ready to fall, And my sorrow is continually before me.

In this psalm, David has expressed the intense misery he feels because of God's correction and conviction (Psalm 38:1–4, 8). Here, he suggests he is ready to collapse, as if dropping to the ground in death. His misery is relentless because his sin is clear (Psalm 38:18). To his credit, David did not let suffering drive him away from the Lord. Instead of bitterly rejecting God's discipline, or attempting to ignore his own sin, David appeals to God for forgiveness and restoration (Psalm 38:22).

The infamous experiences of Job revolve around pain and suffering. He lost his sons and daughters, his servants, his livestock, and his health, but he refused to lose his faith in the Lord. When his wife urged him to curse God and die, Job replied, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive [hardship]? (Job 2:10). Later, he expressed resolute faith in God as his redeemer. He declared: "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself …" (Job 19:25–27). Faith in the Lord surmounts even the most challenging circumstances!

Psalm 38:15–22 concludes David's plea just as it began: with a prayer. Having described his suffering, he prays now for forgiveness and for the Lord to silence his enemies. He asks God not to forsake him but to help him. His final words reveal his dependence on the Lord for deliverance. He addresses the Lord as "my salvation."

David cries out to God in repentance for his sin. He feels the weight of shame and conviction, as if being pierced by arrows, ravaged by disease, crushed, and blinded. His friends have abandoned him; his enemies plot his demise. All of these have been brought about because of his "iniquity." Throughout this misery, David does not abandon hope. Instead, he confidently calls on the Lord to forgive and rescue him.

Psalm 38 and Psalm 32 are similar. They both express David's deep sense of guilt, his contrition, and his confession. Both psalms refer to the ill effect David's sins exerted on his physical condition. Psalm 38's descriptions seem mostly symbolic, but his anguish is very literal. Likely, the sins in question were adultery with Bathsheba and the arranged murder of her husband (2 Samuel 12:7–9). If so, these themes connect directly to Psalm 51. David asks God to forgive him and heal him.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.