Psalm 38
by David, translated by Alan Sullivan
A psalm of David, in remembrance
01: Oh Lord, rebuke me not in wrathnor chasten me with blazing fury.
02: Your arrows pelted me and pierced me;
your hand is pressing down on me.
03: Your anger enervates my flesh;
my sin disquiets all my bones.
04: My failings mount above my head,
their weight too great a weight for me.
05: My boils are putrid and corrupt;
my foolishness has made them fester.
06: Distraught and altogether downcast,
I walk about all day morosely.
07: Fever permeates my innards;
I have no soundness in my body.
08: Enfeebled, entirely contrite,
I groan the tumult of my heart.
09: Lord, my longing is before you;
my sighs are not concealed from you.
10: My heart lurches; my strength has failed.
The light of my eyes: that too is gone.
11: My friends and loved ones shy away
from my sores; my neighbors stand aside.
12: Those who seek my life lay snares,
and those who seek my harm speak ill.
All day they improvise deceits.
13: Like someone deaf, I will not hear.
Like someone dumb, I shut my mouth.
14: I am as one who cannot hear,
and from whose mouth come no reproofs.
15: But I rely on you, oh Lord,
and you will heed me, Lord, my God.
16: I pray that they shall not rejoice
or gloat against me when I slip,
17: for I proceed with halting step,
my grief continually before me.
18: I recognize my sinfulness;
I am remorseful for my sin.
19: My foes are fierce and vigorous;
many are those who hate me wrongly.
20: Those who repay goodness with harm
assail me diabolically
because I have pursued the good.
21: Do not forsake me, Lord, my God;
do not withdraw yourself from me.
22: Make haste to help me, Lord, my salvation.
By pursuit of this ensuing Linke, Readers may find a Podcast of King David’s Psalms, English’d by Alan Sullivan, in collaboration with Hebrew scholar Seree Cohen Zohar; & read by Tim Murphy, with Chant by Monsignor Robert Laliberte: http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=11777
