Psalm 32:4

Translations

Modern

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah

Traditional

For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

Literal

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my juice was overturned, as in the drought of summer. Selah

Latin

Quoniam die ac nocte gravata est super me manus tua, conversus sum in ærumna mea, dum configitur spina.

Original

Hebrew

English

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah

Notes

Psalms 32:4

The psalmist believes his suffering comes directly from the Lord's discipline (compare Psalms 38:2; 39:10).

Psalms 32:3–5

The psalmist admits his sin (see Psalms 19:12–13; 25:7, 11, 15–22) and his resistance to confessing sin. The Lord pressed him hard until he confessed his guilt.

Psalms 32:1–11

This wisdom psalm of confession and thanks urges the godly to learn from the psalmist’s journey through sin, denial, confession, and forgiveness. The early church used this psalm as one of the seven penitential psalms (psalms of repentance, see also Psalms 6, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143).

Theme notes and profiles

David Praise Psalms Salvation in the Psalms Wisdom Psalms

Related verses

Psalm 38:2–8
For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.
1 Samuel 5:11
Then the Ekronites called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!” For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was very heavy upon it.
Psalm 39:10–11
Remove Your scourge from me; I am perishing by the force of Your hand.
Job 33:7
Surely no fear of me should terrify you; nor will my hand be heavy upon you.
Psalm 22:15
My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death.
Psalm 90:6–7
…in the morning it springs up new, but by evening it fades and withers.
Psalm 102:3–4
For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
Job 30:30
My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
Job 16:21
Oh, that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor!
1 Samuel 5:6–7
Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.
1 Samuel 6:9
…but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its homeland, toward Beth-shemesh, it is the LORD who has brought on us this great disaster. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.”
Lamentations 5:10
Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.

Parallels

Romans 4:1–12

People

Selah: A musical or liturgical term of uncertain meaning

Glossary

Confession David Mercy Music Psalms, Book of Wisdom Literature

Topics

Afflictions and Adversities: Unclassified Scriptures Relating To Drought: Figurative Summer: Characterised by Excessive Drought Summer: Drought of

Psalm 32:4

Translations?

Original?

Notes?

Related verses?

Parallels?