For thine arrows stick fast in me,.... Meaning either words with which as a father the Lord rebuked him; and which were sharp and cutting, entered into him and abode with him, and gave him much pain and uneasiness; and by which he concluded that his rebukes were in wrath and hot displeasure; such as those in 2 Samuel 12:11; so the words of men are compared to arrows, Psalm 57:4 or outward afflictions, attended with inward trouble of soul; for as judgments are the arrows of God, such as famine, pestilence, &c. Ezekiel 5:16, Deuteronomy 32:21; so the chastening dispensations of Providence, under which the people of God themselves are, are so called, because they oftentimes come swiftly, suddenly, and at unawares, and are very pungent and distressing; and sometimes stick fast and continue long, by reason of which they are inwardly wounded, and conceive of God as sorely displeased with them; see Job 6:4;

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For thine arrows slick fast in me - See the notes at Job 6:4. The word rendered "stick fast" - נחת nâchath - means properly to go or come down; to descend; and the literal idea here would be, "thine arrows come down upon me." It is not so much the idea of their "sticking fast" when in the wound or flesh; it is that they come down upon one, and pierce him. The meaning is, that he was afflicted "as if" God had wounded him with arrows - arrows which pierced deep in his flesh. Compare the notes at Psalm 45:5. The allusion is to the disease with which he was afflicted.

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Thine arrows stick fast in me - This no doubt, refers to the acute pains which he endured; each appearing to his feeling as if an arrow were shot into his body.

For thine {c} arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.

(c) Your sickness, with which you have visited me.

38:2 Arrows - Thy judgments outward and inward.

2. arrows … and thy hand-the sharp and heavy afflictions he suffered (De 32:23).

Psalm 38:2 Parallel Commentaries
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