Mazmur 6:2-3

6:2 Have mercy on me, ¹  Lord, for I am frail!

Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! ² 

6:3 I am absolutely terrified, ³ 

and you, Lord – how long will this continue? ⁴ 

Mazmur 38:3-8

38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; ⁵ 

I am deprived of health because of my sin. ⁶ 

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; ⁷ 

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

38:5 My wounds ⁸  are infected and starting to smell, ⁹ 

because of my foolish sins. ¹⁰ 

38:6 I am dazed ¹¹  and completely humiliated; ¹² 

all day long I walk around mourning.

38:7 For I am overcome with shame ¹³ 

and my whole body is sick. ¹⁴ 

38:8 I am numb with pain and severely battered; ¹⁵ 

I groan loudly because of the anxiety I feel. ¹⁶ 

[6:2]  ¹ tn Or “show me favor.”

[6:2]  ² tn Normally the verb בָּהַל (bahal) refers to an emotional response and means “tremble with fear, be terrified” (see vv. 3, 10). Perhaps here the “bones” are viewed as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. However, the verb may describe one of the effects of his physical ailment, perhaps a fever. In Ezek 7:27 the verb describes how the hands of the people will shake with fear when they experience the horrors of divine judgment.

[6:3]  ³ tn Heb “my being is very terrified.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and you, Lord, how long?” The suffering psalmist speaks in broken syntax. He addresses God, but then simply cries out with a brief, but poignant, question: How long will this (= his suffering) continue?

[38:3]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”

[38:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “pass over my head.”

[38:5]  ⁸ sn The reference to wounds may be an extension of the metaphorical language of v. 2. The psalmist pictures himself as one whose flesh is ripped and torn by arrows.

[38:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “my wounds stink, they are festering” (cf. NEB).

[38:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from before my foolishness.”

[38:6]  ¹¹ tn The verb’s precise shade of meaning in this context is not entirely clear. The verb, which literally means “to bend,” may refer to the psalmist’s posture. In Isa 21:3 it seems to mean “be confused, dazed.”

[38:6]  ¹² tn Heb “I am bowed down to excess.”

[38:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “for my loins are filled with shame.” The “loins” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. The present translation assumes that נִקְלֶה (niqleh) is derived from קָלָה (qalah, “be dishonored”). Some derive it instead from a homonymic root קָלָה (qalah), meaning “to roast.” In this case one might translate “fever” (cf. NEB “my loins burn with fever”).

[38:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh” (see v. 3).

[38:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I am numb and crushed to excess.”

[38:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I roar because of the moaning of my heart.”