Teks -- Psalms 38:4 (NET)

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Psa 38:4 - Iniquities

Or, the punishment of mine iniquities, as this word is frequently used.

Wesley: Psa 38:4 - Are gone

Like deep waters wherewith I am overwhelmed.

JFB: Psa 38:1-4

To bring to remembrance, or, remind God of His mercy and himself of his sin. Appealing to God for relief from His heavy chastisement, the Psalmist avows his integrity before men, complains of the defection of friends and persecution of enemies, and in a submissive spirit, casting himself on God, with penitent confession he pleads God's covenant relation and his innocence of the charges of his enemies, and prays for divine comfort and help. (Psa. 38:1-22)

He deprecates deserved punishment, which is described (Psa 6:1), under the figure of bodily disease [Psa 38:3].

JFB: Psa 38:4 - iniquities

Afflictions in punishment of sin (2Sa 16:12; Psa 31:10; Psa 40:12).

JFB: Psa 38:4 - gone over mine head

As a flood.

Clarke: Psa 38:4 - Mine iniquities are gone over mine head

Mine iniquities are gone over mine head - He represents himself as one sinking in deep waters, or as one oppressed by a burden to which his strength was unequal.

Calvin: Psa 38:4 - For my iniquities have passed over my head

4.For my iniquities have passed over my head Here he complains that he is overwhelmed by his sins as by a heavy burden, so that he utterly faints under their weight; and yet he again confirms the doctrine which we have already stated, that he deservedly suffered the wrath of God, which had been inflicted on him in a manner so severe and dreadful. The word עון , avon, which we have translated iniquities, no doubt often signifies punishment, but this is only in a secondary and metaphorical sense. I am also willing to admit, that David assigns to the effect what is proper to the cause, when he describes by the appellation iniquities, the punishment which he had procured by his own sin; and yet his object at the same time is plainly and distinctly to confess, that all the afflictions which he suffered were to be imputed to his sins. He quarrels not with God for the extreme severity of his punishment, as Cain did, who said,

“ My punishment is greater than I can bear,” (Gen 4:13.)

It is true, indeed, that Moses uses the same word עון , avon, in that passage, so that there is some similarity between the language of David and Cain. But David’s meaning is very different. When such temptations as these were insinuating themselves into his mind, Could God afflict thee more severely than he does? certainly, since he is doing nothing to relieve thee, it is a sure sign that he wishes thee destroyed and brought to nought; he not only despises thy sighs and groanings, but the more he seeth thee cast down and forsaken, he pursueth thee the more fiercely and with the greater rigour; — to preclude the entrance of such evil thoughts and surmisings, he defended himself as with a shield by this consideration, that he was afflicted by the just judgment of God. He has here attributed to his own sins as the cause the weight of the wrath of God which he felt; and, as we shall find in the following verse, he again acknowledges, that what he is now suffering was procured by his own foolishness. Although, then, in bewailing his own miseries, he may seem in some measure to quarrel with God, yet he still cherishes the humble conviction, (for God afflicteth not beyond measure,) that there is no rest for him but in imploring the Divine compassion and forgiveness; whereas the ungodly, although convicted by their own consciences of guilt, murmur against God, like the wild beasts, which, in their rage, gnaw the chains with which they are bound.

TSK: Psa 38:4 - mine // as an

mine : Psa 40:12; Ezr 9:6

as an : Lev 7:18; Isa 53:11; Lam 1:14; Mat 11:28; 1Pe 2:24

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Psa 38:4 - Mine iniquities // Gone over my head

Mine iniquities or, the punishment of mine iniquities , as this word is frequently used; which best agrees both with the foregoing and following verses, and with the metaphor here used; which in other places of Scripture is generally applied to afflictions, and not to sins.

Gone over my head like deep waters, wherewith I am overwhelmed and almost drowned, Psa 42:7 69:2 124:4,5 .

Haydock: Psa 38:4 - Out

Out. This alludes to his sorrow for his sins, (Origen) or to the fire of charity, which is enkindled by meditation on the last end, &c., (ver. 5.) or rather it means, that while he repressed his tongue, he could not but feel an inward zeal and indignation, (Calmet) in consequence of grief suppressed. (Worthington) ---

See Jeremias xx. 9. (Menochius)

Gill: Psa 38:4 - For mine iniquities are gone over mine head // as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me

For mine iniquities are gone over mine head,.... Like an inundation of waters, as the waves and billows of the sea; for the waters to come up to the neck or chin shows great danger; but when they go over the head the case is desperate, and a person is sinking and drowning; compare with this Psa 69:1; the simile may denote both the number and weight of sins, and also signifies the overwhelming distress the psalmist was in, under a view of them;

as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me; the guilt of sin upon the conscience, without a view of pardon, lies heavy indeed, and makes a man a burden to himself, as it did Job, Job 7:20; yea, sin is not only grieving and afflicting to pardoned ones, and who know they are pardoned, but it is a burden to them under which they groan; nor is it possible for any so to bear it as to satisfy and make atonement for it; none but Christ could ever do this, and he has done it; nor is there any relief for burdened souls, but by looking to a sin bearing and sin atoning Saviour, and by casting the burden upon him, who invites them to him for rest.