Psalms 38:12-22

38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; ¹ 

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. ² 

38:14 I am like a man who cannot hear

and is incapable of arguing his defense. ³ 

38:15 Yet ⁴  I wait for you, O Lord!

You will respond, O Lord, my God!

38:16 I have prayed for deliverance, because otherwise they will gloat over me; ⁵ 

when my foot slips they will arrogantly taunt me. ⁶ 

38:17 For I am about to stumble,

and I am in constant pain. ⁷ 

38:18 Yes, ⁸  I confess my wrongdoing,

and I am concerned about my sins.

38:19 But those who are my enemies for no reason are numerous; ⁹ 

those who hate me without cause outnumber me. ¹⁰ 

38:20 They repay me evil for the good I have done;

though I have tried to do good to them, they hurl accusations at me. ¹¹ 

38:21 Do not abandon me, O Lord!

My God, do not remain far away from me!

38:22 Hurry and help me, ¹²  O Lord, my deliverer!

[38:12]  ¹ tn Heb “lay snares.”

[38:13]  ² 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).

[38:14]  ³ tn Heb “and there is not in his mouth arguments.”

[38:15]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “surely.”

[38:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “For I said, ‘Lest they rejoice over me.’” The psalmist recalls the motivating argument of his petition. He probably prefaced this statement with a prayer for deliverance (see Pss 7:1-2; 13:3-4; 28:1).

[38:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “they will magnify against me.” See Pss 35:26; 55:13.

[38:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “and my pain [is] before me continually.”

[38:18]  ⁸ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[38:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “and my enemies, life, are many.” The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “life”) fits very awkwardly here. The translation assumes an emendation to חִנָּם (khinam, “without reason”; note the parallelism with שֶׁקֶר [sheqer, “falsely”] and see Pss 35:19; 69:4; Lam 3:52). The verb עָצַם (’atsam) can sometimes mean “are strong,” but here it probably focuses on numerical superiority (note the parallel verb רָבַב, ravav, “be many”).

[38:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “are many.”

[38:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the ones who repay evil instead of good accuse me, instead of my pursuing good.”

[38:22]  ¹² tn Heb “hurry to my help.” See Ps 22:19.