38:10 My heart beats quickly;
my strength leaves me;
I can hardly see. 1
38:11 Because of my condition, 2 even my friends and acquaintances keep their distance; 3
my neighbors stand far away. 4
38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; 5
those who want to harm me speak destructive words;
all day long they say deceitful things.
38:13 But I am like a deaf man – I hear nothing;
I am like a mute who cannot speak. 6
38:14 I am like a man who cannot hear
and is incapable of arguing his defense. 7
38:15 Yet 8 I wait for you, O Lord!
You will respond, O Lord, my God!
1 tn 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).
2 tn Or “wound,” or “illness.”
3 tn Heb “stand [aloof].”
4 tn Heb “and the ones near me off at a distance stand.”
3 tn Heb “lay snares.”
4 sn 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).
5 tn Heb “and there is not in his mouth arguments.”
6 tn Or perhaps “surely.”