Mazmur 38:2-3

38:2 For your arrows pierce ¹  me,

and your hand presses me down. ² 

38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; ³ 

I am deprived of health because of my sin. ⁴ 

Mazmur 38:17

38:17 For I am about to stumble,

and I am in constant pain. ⁵ 

[38:2]  ¹ tn The verb Hebrew נָחַת (nakhat) apparently here means “penetrate, pierce” (note the use of the Qal in Prov 17:10). The psalmist pictures the Lord as a warrior who shoots arrows at him (see Ps 7:12-13).

[38:2]  ² tn Heb “and your hand [?] upon me.” The meaning of the verb נָחַת (nakhat) is unclear in this context. It is preferable to emend the form to וַתָּנַח (vattanakh) from the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”). In this case the text would read literally, “and your hand rests upon me” (see Isa 25:10, though the phrase is used in a positive sense there, unlike Ps 38:2).

[38:3]  ³ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.

[38:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”

[38:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “and my pain [is] before me continually.”