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
38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; 5
like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.
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
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).
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.
4 tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”
5 tn Heb “pass over my head.”