God’s Word Translation
Psalms 38:4
4My guilt has overwhelmed me. Like a heavy load, it is more than I can bear.
Psalms 38:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
- New International Version (NIV)My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
Context of Psalms 38:4
2Your arrows have struck me. Your hand has struck me hard. 3No healthy spot is left on my body because of your rage. There is no peace in my bones because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me. Like a heavy load, it is more than I can bear. 5My wounds smell rotten. They fester because of my stupidity. 6I am bent over and bowed down very low. All day I walk around in mourning.
Read all of Psalms 38Psalms 38:4 word by word
כִּ֣י עֲ֭וֹנֹתַי עָבְר֣וּ רֹאשִׁ֑י כְּמַשָּׂ֥א כָ֝בֵ֗ד יִכְבְּד֥וּ מִמֶּֽנִּי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 38:4
- Psalms 40:12Countless evils have surrounded me. My sins have caught up with me so that I can no longer see. They outnumber the hairs on my head. I have lost heart.
- Ezra 9:6and said, “I am ashamed, my God. I am embarrassed to look at you. Our sins have piled up over our heads, and our guilt is so overwhelming that it reaches heaven.
- Leviticus 7:18You will not be accepted if any meat from the fellowship offering is eaten on the third day. You will not receive credit for it. It is repulsive to God. The person who eats any of it must be punished.
- Isaiah 53:11He will see and be satisfied because of his suffering. My righteous servant will acquit many people because of what he has learned ⌞through suffering⌟. He will carry their sins as a burden.
- Lamentations 1:14My rebellious acts are a heavy burden for me. They were tied together by God’s own hands. They were tied around my neck. He has weakened me ⌞with them⌟. The Lord has handed me over to people I cannot oppose.
- Matthew 11:28“Come to me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.
- 1 Peter 2:24Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God’s approval. His wounds have healed you.
Commentaries on Psalms 38:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Mine iniquities are gone over mine head - He represents himself as one sinking in deep waters, or as one oppressed by a burden to which his strength was unequal.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4For mine iniquities are gone over mine head - This is merely an enlargement of the idea suggested in the last verse - that his present sickness was to be traced to his sin, and that he was suffering the punishment for sin. The idea is here that his sins were very numerous and very aggravated. They had risen up around him, or had so accumulated that the mass rose, like waves of the sea, above his head. A somewhat similar idea - though the thought there…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4The psalmist feels burdened because of sin (see Psalms 40:12; 41:4; compare Genesis 4:13).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-221-4. He deprecates deserved punishment, which is described (Psa 6:1), under the figure of bodily disease [Psa 38:3].Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 38:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Psalms 38
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- The Treasury of David
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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