Psalms 38:1
in Psalms 38O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
O Jehovah, rebuke me not in thy wrath; Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
KJV
O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
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This verse in Psalms 38
Commentary
3 notes on this verse(Vers. 1.) Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger; nor chasten me in your wrath. He who repents should be prepared to endure reproaches and suffer injuries; and not be disturbed if someone accuses him of his own sin. For if he himself must accuse himself, why does he not endure others accusing him? And if he should not fear being accused by a man, how much more by his Lord God, to whom we all, even in secret things, sin; since the condemnation of present things, especially the absolution of future things, is from Him.
This site's exposition
rebuke me in Your anger
on Psalms 38:1-4
The psalm opens asking that the discipline not come in anger or wrath. The arrows and the pressing hand are God's own, and the sickness in body and bones is traced to sin. The iniquities are a burden too heavy to bear.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath. Rebuked I must be, for I am an erring child and thou a careful Father, but throw not too much anger into the tones of thy voice; deal gently although I have sinned grievously. The anger of others I can bear, but not thine. As thy love is most sweet to my heart, so thy displeasure is most cutting to my conscience. Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
A song of David, to make remembrance To recite it in time of distress, to make remembrance of the distress of Israel before the Holy One, blessed be He, and he recited it as relating to all Israel.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְֽהוָ֗ה | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| בְּקֶצְפְּךָ֥ | beketzpecha | in anger your | H7110 → | |
| תוֹכִיחֵ֑נִי | tokhicheni | you rebuke me | H3198 → | 59 times |
| וּֽבַחֲמָתְךָ֥ | uvachamatekha | and in wrath your | H2534 → | 125 times |
| תְיַסְּרֵֽנִי׃ | teyasereni | may you chasten me | H3256 → | 43 times |
יְֽהוָ֗הO Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
בְּקֶצְפְּךָ֥in anger your
beketzpechaH7110 →
תוֹכִיחֵ֑נִיyou rebuke me
tokhicheniH3198 →59 times
וּֽבַחֲמָתְךָ֥and in wrath your
uvachamatekhaH2534 →125 times
תְיַסְּרֵֽנִי׃may you chasten me
teyasereniH3256 →43 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 6:1O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 10:24
Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice—not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 10:24
Through
Isaiah 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.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 31:3
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.
- Isaiah 60:10
Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in anger, yet in favor I will show you mercy.
- 1 Timothy 1:16
But for this very reason I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His perfect patience as an example to those who would believe in Him…
- Ezekiel 39:23–24
And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity, because they were unfaithful to Me. So I hid My face from them and delivered them into the…
- Jeremiah 31:3
Through
Psalms 70:1Make haste, O God, to deliver me! Hurry, O LORD, to help me!
it leads to
- Psalms 40:13–17
Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; hurry, O LORD, to help me.
- Psalms 143:7
Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
- Psalms 71:12
Be not far from me, O God. Hurry, O my God, to help me.
- Psalms 40:13–17
About Psalms
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Ambrose of Milan, Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David and Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2.