Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, July 19th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Bible Commentaries
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers Ellicott's Commentary
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliographical Information
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Psalms 38". "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/ebc/psalms-38.html. 1905.
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on Psalms 38". "Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". https://studylight.org/
Whole Bible (44)Old Testament (1)Individual Books (6)
Introduction
XXXVIII.
Reading only the first part of this psalm (Psalms 38:1-11), we should positively assign it to some individual sufferer who had learnt the lesson which St. Jerome says is here taught: âif any sickness happens to the body, we are to seek for the medicine of the soul.â But, reading on, we find that the complaint of bodily suffering gives way to a description of active and deadly enemies, who, in the figure so common in the Psalms, beset the pious with snares. It is better, therefore, to think rather of the sufferings of the community of the faithful, who have learnt to attribute their troubles to their own sins, here described, after the manner of the prophets (Isaiah 1:6) but even more forcibly, under the figure of distressing forms of sickness.
Title.âComp. title Psalms 70:0. In 1 Chronicles 16:4 we read, âAnd he appointed certain Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel.â In the words thank and praise it is natural to see allusion to the Hodu and Hallelujah psalms, so called because beginning with those words, and as âto recordâ is in Hebrew the word used in this title and that to Psalms 70:0, it brings these two psalms also in connection with the Levitical duties. âThe memorialâ was a regular name for one part of the meat offering, and possibly the title is a direction to use these psalms at the moment it was made. The LXX. and Vulg. add, âabout the Sabbath,â which is possibly a mistake for âfor the Sabbath.â
Verse 1
(1) O Lord, rebuke.âSee Note, Psalms 6:1, of which verse this is almost a repetition.
Verse 2
(2) For thine arrows . . .âThe same figure is used of the disease from which Job suffered (elephantiasis? Job 6:4); of famine (Ezekiel 5:16); and generally of divine judgments (Deuteronomy 32:23). By itself it therefore decides nothing as to the particular cause of the Psalmistâs grief.
Stick fast.âBetter, have sunk into, from a root meaning to descend. Presseth, in the next clause, is from the same verb. Translate, therefore,
For thine arrows have fallen deep into me,
And fallen upon me has thine hand.
Verse 3
(3) Rest . . .âBetter, health. The Hebrew is from a root meaning to be whole. Peace (see margin), the reading of the LXX. and Vulg. is a derived meaning.
Verse 4
(4) Are gone over mine head.âLike waves or a flood. (Comp. Psalms 18:15; Psalms 69:2; Psalms 69:15. Comp.
âA sea of troubles.ââHamlet, Acts 3:0, scene 1)
Verse 5
(5) Wounds.âBetter, stripes, as in LXX.
Stink and are corrupt.âBoth words denote suppuration; the first in reference to the offensive smell, the second of the discharge of matter; the whole passage recalls Isaiah 1:6, seq.
Foolishness.âMen are generally even more loth to confess their folly than their sins.
Verse 6
(6) I am troubled.âBetter,
I am made to writhe (see margin),
I am bowed down exceedingly,
All day long I go about squalid.
(See Psalms 35:14, and comp. Isaiah 21:3.) The usual Oriental signs of mourning are alluded to in the last clause.
Verse 7
(7) Loathsome disease.âThe Hebrew word is a passive participle of a verb meaning to scorch, and here means inflamed or inflammation. Ewald renders âulcers.â The LXX. and Vulg., deriving from another root meaning to be light, or made light of, render âmockings.â
Verse 8
(8) I am feeble and sore broken.âBetter, I am become deadly cold, and am quite worn out.
Disquietness.âProperly, roaring. Thus, of the sea (Isaiah 5:30), of lions (Proverbs 19:12; Proverbs 20:2). A very slight alteration once suggested by Hitzig, but since abandoned, would give here, âI roared more than the roaring of a lion.â
Verse 9
(9) All my desire.âNotice the clutch at the thought of divine justice, as the clutch of a drowning man amid that sea of trouble.
Verse 10
(10) Panteth.âBetter, palpitates. The Hebrew word, like palpitate, expresses the beating of the heart, by its sound, secharchar.
Verse 11
(11) Sore is rather stroke, as in margin, or plague. His friends, looking on him as âone smitten of God,â and thinking âhe must be wicked to deserve such pain,â abandon him as too vile for their society.
Kinsmen.âRender rather, as in margin, neighbours, or near ones.
Those who should have been near me stand aloof.
Verse 14
(14) Reproofs.âBetter, replies or justifications, (For the whole passage comp. Isaiah 53:7.)
Verse 15
(15) Thou wilt hear.âThou is emphatic.
Verse 16
(16) Lest.âIt is better to carry on the force of the particle of condition:
For I said, Lest they should rejoice over me:
Lest, when my foot slipped, they should vaunt themselves against me.
Verse 18
(18) Sorry.âThe note of true penitence is here. The sorrow is for the sin itself, not for its miserable results.
Verse 19
(19) But mine enemies are lively.âSee margin. But the parallelism and a comparison with Psalms 35:19 lead to the suspicion that the true reading is âwithout cause.â