6
Do Not Rebuke Me in Your Anger
(Psalms 38:1–22)
For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments, according to Sheminith.* A Psalm of David.
1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger
or discipline me in Your wrath.
2 Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am frail;
heal me, O LORD, for my bones are in agony.
3 My soul is deeply distressed.
How long, O LORD, how long?
4 Turn, O LORD, and deliver my soul;
save me because of Your loving devotion.
5 For there is no mention of You in death;
who can praise You from Sheol?
6 I am weary from groaning;
all night I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes fail from grief;
they grow dim because of all my foes.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity,
for the LORD has heard my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;
they will turn back in sudden disgrace.
* 6: Sheminith is probably a musical term; here and in 1 Chronicles 15:21 and Psalms 12:1.