Fathers

Psalms 38

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Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your wrath, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure. For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head. As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. My wounds are loathsome and corrupt because of my foolishness. I am in pain and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long. For my waist is filled with burning. There is no soundness in my flesh. I am faint and severely bruised. I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before you. My groaning is not hidden from you. My heart throbs. My strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes, it has also left me. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand far away. They also who seek after my life lay snares. Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all day long. But I, as a deaf man, don’t hear. I am as a mute man who doesn’t open his mouth. Yes, I am as a man who doesn’t hear, in whose mouth are no reproofs. For I hope in you, Yahweh. You will answer, Lord my God. For I said, “Don’t let them gloat over me, or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.” For I am ready to fall. My pain is continually before me. For I will declare my iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin. But my enemies are vigorous and many. Those who hate me without reason are numerous. They who render evil for good are also adversaries to me, because I follow what is good. Don’t forsake me, Yahweh. My God, don’t be far from me. Hurry to help me, Lord, my salvation.

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 38:17

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"For I am prepared for the scourges" (ver. 17). Quite a magnificent expression; as if He were saying, "It was even for this that I was born; that I might suffer." For He was not to be born, but from Adam, to whom the scourge is due. But sinners are in this life sometimes not scourged at all, or are scourged less than their deserts: because the wickedness of their heart is given over as already desperate. …

Exposition on Psalm 38 ↗

Ambrose of Milan

Therefore, for all these things, a beautiful remedy is prepared in the form of a whip, and it offers itself to the Lord, so that it may bear the scourges that please God. I indeed choose the holy kind of whip that David endured with composure; but he chose it because the necessity of choosing one out of three conditions was commanded. …

Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms ↗

Thomas Aquinas

The third reason is on his own part, namely on the part of the one suffering. First, he sets forth readiness of soul. Second, its cause. He says therefore, "For I am ready for scourges." No one is impatient except about what he endures unwillingly. When, therefore, one is ready to endure, one is not impatient. Two kinds of men should be considered. Some are those who are not scourged here, but are reserved for eternal fire. Ps. 72: "They are not in the labor of men," etc., namely, they are not corrected here. …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗