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    Psalms · 22 verses

    Psalms 38

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    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    David’s enemies have managed the peculiar feat of making goodness the offence: they repay it with evil, and he still calls their hatred causeless.

    A body under accusationvv. 1–10

    David begins by asking the LORD not to rebuke him in anger, though the arrows, the heavy hand, the festering wounds, and the failing light of his eyes have left little room for ambiguity. His bodily misery and his sin are tangled together until his iniquities become a burden too heavy to bear. Even so, nothing in him is hidden: desire, groaning, pain, and the whole miserable inventory lie open before the Lord.

    Friends at a distancevv. 11–14

    The illness has altered the room around him. Beloved friends shun him, kinsmen stand back, and those seeking his life lay snares while plotting deceit all day long. David answers this bustling hostility with the stillness of a deaf and mute man: no hearing, no reply, not even the courtesy of an argument.

    The curious offence of goodnessvv. 15–22

    David waits for the LORD to answer while standing on the brink of a fall, pain always beside him. He confesses his iniquity, yet the enemies remain oddly free of cause: they hate him without reason, or rather because they repay his good with evil while he pursues what is good. The psalm ends not with an explanation but with a rapid summons to the Lord his Savior.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Ps 38:1A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.

    2. Ps 38:2For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.

    3. Ps 38:3There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin.

    4. Ps 38:4For my iniquities have overwhelmed me; they are a burden too heavy to bear.

    5. Ps 38:5My wounds are foul and festering because of my sinful folly.

    6. Ps 38:6I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.

    7. Ps 38:7For my loins are full of burning pain, and no soundness remains in my body.

    8. Ps 38:8I am numb and badly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.

    9. Ps 38:9O Lord, my every desire is before You; my groaning is not hidden from You.

    10. Ps 38:10My heart pounds, my strength fails, and even the light of my eyes has faded.

    11. Ps 38:11My beloved and friends shun my disease, and my kinsmen stand at a distance.

    12. Ps 38:12Those who seek my life lay snares; those who wish me harm speak destruction, plotting deceit all day long.

    13. Ps 38:13But like a deaf man, I do not hear; and like a mute man, I do not open my mouth.

    14. Ps 38:14I am like a man who cannot hear, whose mouth offers no reply.

    15. Ps 38:15I wait for You, O LORD; You will answer, O Lord my God.

    16. Ps 38:16For I said, “Let them not gloat over me—those who taunt me when my foot slips.”

    17. Ps 38:17For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever with me.

    18. Ps 38:18Yes, I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.

    19. Ps 38:19Many are my enemies without cause, and many hate me without reason.

    20. Ps 38:20Those who repay my good with evil attack me for pursuing the good.

    21. Ps 38:21Do not forsake me, O LORD; be not far from me, O my God.

    22. Ps 38:22Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 179 passages were voted onto 22 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 4Psalms 40:12For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.
    • 22Psalms 40:13Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; hurry, O LORD, to help me.
    • 4Ezra 9:6and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens.
    • 9Psalms 10:17You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,
    • 20Psalms 35:12They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul.
    • 22Psalms 27:1Of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—whom shall I dread?
    • 1Isaiah 54:8In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.
    • 15Psalms 39:7And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.
    • 18Psalms 32:5Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
    • 18Proverbs 28:13He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
    • 21Psalms 22:19But You, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
    • 1Psalms 6:1For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments, according to Sheminith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
    • 1Hebrews 12:5–11And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.
    • 4Matthew 11:28Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
    • 15Psalms 17:6I call on You, O God, for You will answer me. Incline Your ear to me; hear my words.
    • 17Psalms 6:6I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.

    Onward

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