Prayer in Time of Chastening
A Psalm of David. To bring to remembrance.
1O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!
2For Your arrows pierce me deeply,
And Your hand presses me down.
3There is no soundness in my flesh
Because of Your anger,
Nor any health in my bones
Because of my sin.
4For my iniquities have gone over my head;
Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5My wounds are foul and festering
Because of my foolishness.
6I am 38:6 Lit. bent downtroubled, I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day long.
7For my loins are full of inflammation,
And there is no soundness in my flesh.
8I am feeble and severely broken;
I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.
9Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.
10My heart pants, my strength fails me;
As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.
11My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague,
And my relatives stand afar off.
12Those also who seek my life lay snares for me;
Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction,
And plan deception all the day long.
13But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.
14Thus I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth is no response.
You will 38:15 answerhear, O Lord my God.
16For I said, “Hear me, lest they rejoice over me,
Lest, when my foot slips, they exalt themselves against me.”
17For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continually before me.
18For I will declare my iniquity;
I will be in 38:18 anxietyanguish over my sin.
And those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied.
20Those also who render evil for good,
They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.
21Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, be not far from me!
22Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!
New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
