Psalms 38:2
in Psalms 38For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For thine arrows stick fast in me, And thy hand presseth me sore.
KJV
For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.
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This verse in Psalms 38
Commentary
4 notes on this verse(Verse 2.) And he added: Because your arrows have pierced me. He seems to be saying the same thing as the holy Job; but they are different. For he also says: The arrows of the Lord are in my body, the fury of which drinks my blood: when I begin to speak, they pierce me (Job 6:4). He complains about the wound of his body; here he deplores the wounds of his soul.
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 Reformation1 voice
He shows that he was constrained by dire necessity to ask an alleviation of his misery; for he was crushed under the weight of the burden which he sustained. This rule is always to be observed in our prayers -- to keep God's promises present to our view. But God has promised that he will chastise his servants, not according to their deserts, but as they are able to bear.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
For thine arrows stick fast in me. By this he means both bodily and spiritual griefs, but we may suppose, especially the latter, for these are most piercing and stick the fastest. God's law applied by the Spirit to the conviction of the soul of sin, wounds deeply and rankles long; it is an arrow not lightly to be brushed out by careless mirthfulness, or to be extracted by the flattering hand of self righteousness. The Lord knows how to shoot so that his bolts not only strike but stick.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| חִ֭צֶּיךָ | chitzeikha | arrows your | H2671 → | 53 times |
| נִ֣חֲתוּ | nichatu | they have penetrated | H5181 → | 11 times |
| בִ֑י | vi | <in> me | ||
| וַתִּנְחַ֖ת | vatinchat | and it has come down | H5181 → | 11 times |
| עָלַ֣י | ʾalai | on me | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יָדֶֽךָ׃ | yadekha | hand your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
חִ֭צֶּיךָarrows your
chitzeikhaH2671 →53 times
נִ֣חֲתוּthey have penetrated
nichatuH5181 →11 times
בִ֑י<in> me
vi
וַתִּנְחַ֖תand it has come down
vatinchatH5181 →11 times
עָלַ֣יon me
ʾalaiH5921 →5755 times
יָדֶֽךָ׃hand your
yadekhaH3027 →1618 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
1 Samuel 5:6Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 5:11
Then the Ekronites assembled all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us…
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 28:27
The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.
- Exodus 9:3
then the hand of the LORD will bring a severe plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks.
- Acts 13:11
Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him,…
- Psalms 32:4
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah
- 1 Samuel 5:11
Through
Psalms 32:4For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah
it leads to
- Psalms 38:2–8
For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.
- Psalms 38:2–8
Through
Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
it leads to
- Job 30:15
Terrors are turned loose against me; they drive away my dignity as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.
- Psalms 88:15–16
From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
- Job 30:15
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; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2 and John Calvin, Commentaries.