Chapter: Psalm 38

Laments

More than 1/3 of the Psalms fall into the category of complaints to God in situations of limitation or threat. These laments were a form of prayer and praise based on the conviction that God is concerned about people and answers the human cry in ways surpassing human expectation or understanding. Israel’s laments out of distress were a way of praising God even when he seemed absent. The faith of the psalmists is founded on the good news that God intervenes in desperate situations to help those who are distressed. The psalmists share a deep confidence that God is compassionate, concerned, hearing his people and involved with them; God is faithful and trustworthy. A lament is an outcry to God from a responsive heart. Laments came from individuals or from the community.

Examples: Psalms 3-5, 22, 27:7-14, 42, 51, 69, 90, 130, 137 and many others

38

Domine, ne in furore

¹ Rebuke me not, O Lord, in your anger, *

neither chasten me in your weighty displeasure.

² For your arrows stick fast in me, *

and your hand presses me hard.

³ There is no health in my flesh, because of your displeasure; *

neither is there any rest in my bones, by reason of my sin.

⁴ For my iniquities have gone over my head *

and are like a heavy burden, too much for me to bear.

⁵ My wounds stink and fester, *

by reason of my foolishness.

⁶ I am brought into such great trouble and misery *

that I go about mourning all the day long.

⁷ For my loins are filled with burning, *

and there is no wholeness in my body.

⁸ I am feeble and sorely smitten; *

I have roared because of the tumult of my heart.

⁹ Lord, you know all my desire, *

and my groaning is not hidden from you.

¹⁰ My heart is panting, my strength has failed me, *

and the sight of my eyes is gone from me.

¹¹ My friends and my neighbors turn away from my trouble, *

and my kinsmen stand afar off.

¹² Those also who seek after my life lay snares for me, *

and those who go about to do me evil talk of wickedness and imagine deceit all the day long.

¹³ As for me, I am like the deaf who do not hear, *

and as one who is mute, who does not open his mouth.

¹⁴ I have become like a man who hears not, *

and in whose mouth are no reproofs.

¹⁵ For in you, O Lord, have I put my trust; *

you shall answer for me, O Lord my God.

¹⁶ I have said, “Let not my enemies triumph over me,” *

for when my foot slipped, they rejoiced greatly over me.

¹⁷ Truly, I am about to fall, *

and my pain is ever with me.

¹⁸ For I will confess my wickedness, *

and be sorry for my sin.

¹⁹ But my enemies live, and are mighty, *

and those who hate me wrongfully are many in number.

²⁰ Those also who repay evil for good are against me, *

because I follow that which is good.

²¹ Forsake me not, O Lord my God; *

O be not far from me.

²² Make haste to help me, *

O Lord God of my salvation.