Psalm 38 Overview
No healthy spot left
Psalm 38
Welcome to the Overview of Psalm 38
This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 38 as a whole. It includes the following sections:
Introduction to Psalm 38
Author:
Purpose:
- To plead with YHWH to answer David's enemies' accusations because he cannot answer them himself.
Content:
- My suffering has incapacitated me, my companions have abandoned me, and my enemies are accusing me. You alone, YHWH, can help!
Message:
- A sufferer cannot save themself; YHWH is the only one who can answer.
Psalm 38 At-a-Glance
These sections divide the content of the psalm into digestible pieces , and are determined based on information from many of our layers, including Semantics, Poetics, and Discourse. The columns, left to right, contain: the verse numbers; the main title of the section; a brief summary of the content of that section (quote marks indicate the text is taken directly from the English text of the psalm (as per our Close-but-Clear translation); and an icon to visually represent and remember the content.
Background Orientation for Psalm 38
Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.
- Sickness is a common form of divine punishment (Ps 6:1-2, 102:3-4, 10-11; Keel 1997, 80). YHWH is the ultimate judge and so has the right to condemn or acquit David accordingly.
- Sickness is sometimes used metaphorically to describe spiritual or mental suffering.
- Disease could lead to ostracism because it is a result of divine judgment and because of the Levitical laws concerning some diseases that require the sick person to leave camp (Ryken et al. 1982, 2182; Lev 13:46; 14:19-20; see John 9:1).
Background Situation for Psalm 38
The background situation is the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken. These are taken from the story triangle – whatever lies to the left of the star icon.
Participants in Psalm 38
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