Why read Psalm 38?
Psalm 38 encourages restraint in speech and reflection on the brevity of life. The resolve to avoid sinning with words leads to a prayer that places hope in God rather than passing things.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
Psalm 38 opens the heart with the cry "I said: I will take heed to my ways...". It is one of the 18-verse psalms of the Sixth Kathisma, and it is said both at the services and in prayer at home — the Psalter being the constant companion of the Orthodox Christian.
The text of Psalm 38
1. I said: "I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue;
2. I set a guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me".
3. I became mute and was humbled, and I spake not even of good; and my sorrow was renewed.
4. My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation a fire shall kindle.
5. I spake with my tongue: "Make known unto me, O Lord, mine end,
6. And the number of my days, what it is, that I may know what I lack".
7. Behold, Thou hast made my days as a handbreadth, and my being is as nothing before Thee.
8. But all things together are vanity; every man that liveth.
9. Surely man walketh as an image, yet in vain is he disquieted.
10. He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not for whom he gathereth them.
11. And now what is my patience? Is it not the Lord? And my substance is from Thee.
12. From all mine iniquities deliver me; make me not a reproach to the foolish.
13. I became mute and opened not my mouth, for Thou it was that hast made me. Turn away from me Thy stripes.
14. I have fainted at the strength of Thy hand. With rebukes for iniquity hast Thou chastened man,
15. And hast made his soul melt away as a spider's web; yet in vain doth every earthly man disquiet himself.
16. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication give ear unto; my tears pass not over in silence,
17. For I am a stranger with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
18. Give me respite, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence and be no more.
When Psalm 38 is read
- in the face of illness and of the end — "what is my life?".
- At the end of each psalm, the tradition adds: "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen."
Neighbouring psalms
Read also
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
