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John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 38 A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. This psalm was composed by David under some sore affliction, and when in great distress of mind by reason of sin, perhaps his sin with Bathsheba; and was written as a memorial of his sense of sin, of his great afflictions, and deliverance from them; and therefore is said to be "to bring to remembrance", or to refresh his memory...
John Gill
For mine iniquities are gone over mine head,.... Like an inundation of waters, as the waves and billows of the sea; for the waters to come up to the neck or chin shows great danger; but when they go over the head the case is desperate, and a person is sinking and drowning; compare with this Psalms 69:1; the simile may denote both the number and weight of sins, and also signifies the overwhelming...
Matthew Henry
This is one of the penitential psalms; it is full of grief and complaint from the beginning to the end. David's sins and his afflictions are the cause of his grief and the matter of his complaints. It should seem he was now sick and in pain, which reminded him of his sins and helped to humble him for them; he was, at the same time, deserted by his friends and persecuted by his enemies; so that...
Charles H. Spurgeon
For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: David was like a man who has sunk seven fathoms deep. Big waves of iniquity rolled over him, and he saw no light, no hope, no way of escape. Psa_38:4. As an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. It is a great mercy when sin is a burden; for, when it becomes too heavy for us to bear, Christ will bear it. A man is in an ill case when he finds no burden...
Charles H. Spurgeon
For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. David had some painful old sores; I mean, old sins; and they seem to have broken out again and again, and when he wrote this Psalm, he was groaning in his spirit at the remembrance of them. His faith was at a low ebb, and his feelings were of the...