Psalm 38

    A psalm of David. A petition.
 ¹ O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
   or discipline me in your wrath.
² For your arrows have pierced me,
   and your hand has come down upon me.
³ Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
   my bones have no soundness because of my sin.
⁴ My guilt has overwhelmed me
   like a burden too heavy to bear.
 ⁵ My wounds fester and are loathsome
   because of my sinful folly.
⁶ I am bowed down and brought very low;
   all day long I go about mourning.
⁷ My back is filled with searing pain;
   there is no health in my body.
⁸ I am feeble and utterly crushed;
   I groan in anguish of heart.
 ⁹ All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;
   my sighing is not hidden from you.
¹⁰ My heart pounds, my strength fails me;
   even the light has gone from my eyes.
¹¹ My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
   my neighbors stay far away.
¹² Those who seek my life set their traps,
   those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
   all day long they plot deception.
 ¹³ I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear,
   like a mute, who cannot open his mouth;
¹⁴ I have become like a man who does not hear,
   whose mouth can offer no reply.
¹⁵ I wait for you, O LORD;
   you will answer, O Lord my God.
¹⁶ For I said, “Do not let them gloat
   or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.”
 ¹⁷ For I am about to fall,
   and my pain is ever with me.
¹⁸ I confess my iniquity;
   I am troubled by my sin.
¹⁹ Many are those who are my vigorous enemies;
   those who hate me without reason are numerous.
²⁰ Those who repay my good with evil
   slander me when I pursue what is good.
 ²¹ O LORD, do not forsake me;
   be not far from me, O my God.
²² Come quickly to help me,
   O Lord my Savior.