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The Holy Bible: King James Version. 2000.

The Psalms

The Psalms 38


The Prayer of a Suffering Penitent
A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.

1  O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath:
        
neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2  For thine arrows stick fast in me,
        
and thy hand presseth me sore.
3  There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger;
        
neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.
4  For mine iniquities are gone over mine head:
        
as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5  My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.
6  I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly;
        
I go mourning all the day long.
7  For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease:
        
and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8  I am feeble and sore broken:
        
I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
9  Lord, all my desire is before thee;
        
and my groaning is not hid from thee.
10  My heart panteth, my strength faileth me:
        
as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
11  My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore;
        
and my kinsmen stand afar off.
12  They also that seek after my life lay snares for me;
        
and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things,
and imagine deceits all the day long.
13  But I, as a deaf man, heard not;
        
and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.
14  Thus I was as a man that heareth not,
        
and in whose mouth are no reproofs.
15  For in thee, O LORD, do I hope:
        
thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.
16  For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me:
        
when my foot slippeth,
they magnify themselves against me.
17  For I am ready to halt,
        
and my sorrow is continually before me.
18  For I will declare mine iniquity;
        
I will be sorry for my sin.
19  But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong:
        
and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
20  They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries;
        
because I follow the thing that good is.
21  Forsake me not, O LORD:
        
O my God, be not far from me.
22  Make haste to help me,
        
O Lord my salvation.

Published by The American Bible Society