Псалтирь 38:4

iniquities--afflictions in punishment of sin (Sa2 16:12; Psa 31:10; Psa 40:12). gone over mine head--as a flood.

My wounds stink, and are corrupt,.... Meaning his sins, which had wounded him, and for which there is no healing but in a wounded Saviour, and by his stripes we are healed, Isa 53:5; where the same word is used as here; Christ's black and blue stripes and wounds, as the word signifies, are the healing of ours, both of sins, and of the effects of them; which, to a sensible sinner, are as nauseous and loathsome as an old wound that is festered and corrupt; because of my foolishness: as all sin arises from foolishness, which is bound in the hearts of men, and from whence it arises, Mar 7:22; perhaps the psalmist may have respect to his folly with Bathsheba, which had been the occasion of all the distress that is spoken of both before and afterwards.

This is one of the penitential psalms; it is full of grief and complaint from the beginning to the end. David's sins and his afflictions are the cause of his grief and the matter of his complaints. It should seem he was now sick and in pain, which reminded him of his sins and helped to humble him for them; he was, at the same time, deserted by his friends and persecuted by his enemies; so that the psalm is calculated for the depth of distress and a complication of calamities. He complains, I. Of God's displeasure, and of his own sin which provoked God against him (Psa 38:1-5). II. Of his bodily sickness (Psa 38:6-10). III. Of the unkindness of his friends (Psa 38:11). IV. Of the injuries which his enemies did him, pleading his good conduct towards them, yet confessing his sins against God (Psa 38:12-20). Lastly, he concludes the psalm with earnest prayers to God for his gracious presence and help (Psa 38:21, Psa 38:22). In singing this psalm we ought to be much affected with the malignity of sin; and, if we have not such troubles as are here described, we know not how soon we may have, and therefore must sing of them by way of preparation and we know that others have them, and therefore we must sing of the by way of sympathy. A psalm of David to bring to remembrance.

38:4 The psalmist’s burden results from sin (see 40:12; 41:4; cp. Gen 4:13).