Psalm 38:20 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good.

NIV: Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me, though I seek only to do what is good.

NASB: And those who repay evil for good, They become my enemies, because I follow what is good.

CSB: Those who repay evil for good attack me for pursuing good.

NLT: They repay me evil for good and oppose me for pursuing good.

KJV: They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.

NKJV: Those also who render evil for good, They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.

David's enemies were unscrupulous. They wanted to destroy David because he did what was good. They wanted to repay his honorable deeds with evil. Even if David had truly sinned (Psalm 38:18), their attacks went beyond anything reasonable (Psalm 38:19). Such enemies would have willingly lied about David before (Psalm 35:11–12), so they have no reason to reserve their criticism to something rational. Instead, they amplify their slander.

This is part of the fallen world's assault on godliness. When the ungodly fail to meet their already-low standards, they expect tolerance and refuse correction. On the other hand, when a self-identified believer falls short of perfection, the world is ready to pounce and magnify those mistakes (1 Peter 2:12).

John 3:19 declares: "And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil." God demonstrated the greatest good by giving His Son for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2), but the world demonstrated the greatest evil by crucifying God's Son. Jesus told His followers: "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. … because you are not of the world … the world hates you" (John 15:18–19). Proverbs 17:13 sounds a warning: "If anyone returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house."

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.