Prayer in Time of Discipline.
A Psalm of David; to bring to remembrance.
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
Nor discipline me in Your burning anger.
2 For Your arrows have sunk into meandpenetrate deeply,
And Your hand has pressed down on meandgreatly disciplined me.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation;
There is no health in my bones because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities have gone over my head [like the waves of a flood];
As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.
5 My wounds are loathsome and foul
Because of my foolishness.
6 I am bent over and greatly bowed down;
I go about mourning all day long.
7 For my sides are filled with burning,
And there is no health in my flesh.
8 I am numb and greatly bruised [deadly cold and completely worn out];
I groan because of the disquietandmoaning of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.
10 My heart throbs violently, my strength fails me;
And as for the light of my eyes, even that has also gone from me.
11 My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague;
And my neighbors stand far away.
12 Those who seek my life lay snaresfor me,
And those who seek to injure me threaten mischievous thingsanddestruction;
They devise treachery all the day long.
13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth.
14 Yes, I am like a man who does not hear,
In whose mouth are no arguments.
15 For in You, O Lord, I hope;
You will answer, O Lord my God.
16 For I pray, “May they not rejoice over me,
Who, when my foot slips, would boast against me.”
17 For I am ready to fall;
My sorrow is continually before me.
18 For I do confess my guiltandiniquity;
I am filled with anxiety because of my sin.
19 But my [numerous] enemies are vigorous and strong,
And those who hate me without cause are many.
20 They repay evil for good, they attackandtry to kill me,
Because I follow what is good.
21 Do not abandon me, O Lord;
O my God, do not be far from me.
22 Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my Salvation.