¹tn The words “continue to” are supplied in the translation of both lines. The following verses make it clear that the psalmist is already experiencing divine rebuke/punishment. He asks that it might cease.
sn Compare Ps 38:1 with Ps 6:1, which has similar wording.
²tn The verb Hebrew tjn apparently here means “penetrate, pierce” (see HALOT 692; note as well the use of the Qal in Prov 17:10). The psalmist pictures the Lord as a warrior who shoots arrows at him (see Ps 7:12-13).
³tn Heb “and your hand [?] upon me.” The meaning of the verb tjn is unclear in this context. It is preferable to emend the form to jntw, from the verb jwn (“rest”). In this case the text would read literally, “and your hand rests upon me” (see Isa 25:10, though the phrase is used in a positive sense there, unlike Ps 38:2).
⁴tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.
⁵tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”
⁶tn Heb “pass over my head.”
⁷sn The reference to wounds may be an extension of the metaphorical language of v. 2. The psalmist pictures himself as one whose flesh is ripped and torn by arrows.
⁸tn Heb “my wounds stink, they are festering” (cf. NEB).
⁹tn Heb “from before my foolishness.”
¹⁰tn The verb’s precise shade of meaning in this context is not entirely clear. The verb, which literally means “to bend,” may refer to the psalmist’s posture. In Isa 21:3 it seems to mean “be confused, dazed.”
¹¹tn Heb “I am bowed down to excess.”
¹²tn Heb “for my loins are filled with shame.” The “loins” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. The present translation assumes that hlqn is derived from hlq (“be dishonored”). Some derive it instead from a homonymic root hlq, meaning “to roast.” In this case one might translate “fever” (cf. NEB “my loins burn with fever”).
¹³tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh” (see v. 3).
¹⁴tn Heb “I am numb and crushed to excess.”
¹⁵tn Heb “I roar because of the moaning of my heart.”
¹⁶tn Heb “O Lord, before you [is] all my desire.”
¹⁷tn Heb “and the light of my eyes, even they, there is not with me.” The “light of the eyes” may refer to physical energy (see 1 Sam 14:27, 29), life itself (Ps 13:3), or the ability to see (Prov 29:23).
¹⁸tn Or “wound,” or “illness.”
¹⁹tn Heb “stand [aloof].”
²⁰tn Heb “and the ones near me off at a distance stand.”
²¹tn Heb “lay snares.”
²²sn I am like a deaf man…like a mute. The psalmist is like a deaf mute; he is incapable of defending himself and is vulnerable to his enemies’ deception (see v. 14).
²³tn Heb “and there is not in his mouth arguments.”
²⁴tn Or perhaps “surely.”
²⁵tn Heb “For I said, ‘Lest they rejoice over me.’” The psalmist recalls the motivating argument of his petition. He probably prefaced this statement with a prayer for deliverance (see Pss 7:1-2; 13:3-4; 28:1).
²⁶tn Heb “they will magnify against me.” See Pss 35:26; 55:13.
²⁷tn Heb “and my pain [is] before me continually.”
²⁸tn Or “for.” The translation assumes the yk is asseverative here.
²⁹tn Heb “and my enemies, life, are many.” The noun <yYj (“life”) fits very awkwardly here. The translation assumes an emendation to <nj (“without reason”; note the parallelism with rqv [“falsely”] and see Pss 35:19; 69:4; Lam 3:52). The verb <xu can sometimes mean “are strong,” but here it probably focuses on numerical superiority (note the parallel verb bbr [“be many”]).
³⁰tn Heb “are many.”
³¹tn Heb “the ones who repay evil instead of good accuse me, instead of my pursuing good.”
³²tn Heb “hurry to my help.” See Ps 22:19.
³³sn Psalm 39. The psalmist laments his frailty and mortality as he begs the Lord to take pity on him and remove his disciplinary hand.