Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 38:4
For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
4. His sins are like a flood which overwhelms (Psa 124:4-5); like a burden which crushes (Gen 4:13; Isa 53:4; Job 7:20).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For mine iniquities are gone over mine head – This is merely an enlargement of the idea suggested in the last verse – that his present sickness was to be traced to his sin, and that he was suffering the punishment for sin. The idea is here that his sins were very numerous and very aggravated. They had risen up around him, or had so accumulated that the mass rose, like waves of the sea, above his head. A somewhat similar idea – though the thought there refers rather to the number of sins than the degree of guilt – occurs in Psa 40:12 : Mine iniquities … are more than the hairs of my head.
As an heavy burden … – That is, they are so heavy that I cannot bear them, and my frame has sunk under them. This might mean either that the sense of sin was so great that he could not bear up under it, but had been crushed by it (compare Psa 32:3-4); or that on account of sin, as if it were a heavy weight, he had been crushed by disease. The general idea is, that the real cause of his sickness was the fact that he was a great sinner, and that God was punishing him for it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 38:4
Mine iniquities are gone over my head.
Sins compared to deepening waters
He compareth his sins to waters which, albeit, at the first entrance they seem so shallow, that scarce they touch our ankles; yet the further we go into them, they prove the deeper, and soon pass from our knees to our shoulders, and over our head, and drown us, except God provide a remedy; as if a plank or board be cast unto one in danger of drowning, whereupon, taking hold, he may easily escape the danger; even so we go from sin to sin, and from less to greater, until that many sins meeting and concurring together overgo us: and we, filling the cup of our iniquity, be poisoned with the dregs thereof. Therefore, let us take heed, and turn back in time, lest going forward, contemning such warnings, we become self-murderers, murderers of our own selves. We have better waters, through which we may go in safety, the waters of Siloah, which run softly, by which we may refresh our own souls; the blessed blood of Jesus Christ; and the waters of Ezekiel (Eze 47:12) which flow in the sanctuary, that we may grow from grace to grace, till we come to glory. (A. Symson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Mine iniquities are gone over mine head] He represents himself as one sinking in deep waters, or as one oppressed by a burden to which his strength was unequal.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mine iniquities; or, the punishment of mine iniquities, as this word is frequently used; which best agrees both with the foregoing and following verses, and with the metaphor here used; which in other places of Scripture is generally applied to afflictions, and not to sins.
Gone over my head, like deep waters, wherewith I am overwhelmed and almost drowned, Psa 42:7; 69:2; 124:4,5.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. iniquitiesafflictions inpunishment of sin (2Sa 16:12;Psa 31:10; Psa 40:12).
gone over mine headasa flood.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 Ps 69:1; the simile may denote both the number and weight of sins, and also signifies the overwhelming distress the psalmist was in, under a view of them;
as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me; the guilt of sin upon the conscience, without a view of pardon, lies heavy indeed, and makes a man a burden to himself, as it did Job, Job 7:20; yea, sin is not only grieving and afflicting to pardoned ones, and who know they are pardoned, but it is a burden to them under which they groan; nor is it possible for any so to bear it as to satisfy and make atonement for it; none but Christ could ever do this, and he has done it; nor is there any relief for burdened souls, but by looking to a sin bearing and sin atoning Saviour, and by casting the burden upon him, who invites them to him for rest.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. For my iniquities have passed over my head. Here he complains that he is overwhelmed by his sins as by a heavy burden, so that he utterly faints under their weight; and yet he again confirms the doctrine which we have already stated, that he deservedly suffered the wrath of God, which had been inflicted on him in a manner so severe and dreadful. The word עון, avon, which we have translated iniquities, no doubt often signifies punishment, but this is only in a secondary and metaphorical sense. I am also willing to admit, that David assigns to the effect what is proper to the cause, when he describes by the appellation iniquities, the punishment which he had procured by his own sin; and yet his object at the same time is plainly and distinctly to confess, that all the afflictions which he suffered were to be imputed to his sins. He quarrels not with God for the extreme severity of his punishment, as Cain did, who said,
“
My punishment is greater than I can bear,” (Gen 4:13.)
It is true, indeed, that Moses uses the same word עון, avon, in that passage, so that there is some similarity between the language of David and Cain. But David’s meaning is very different. When such temptations as these were insinuating themselves into his mind, Could God afflict thee more severely than he does? certainly, since he is doing nothing to relieve thee, it is a sure sign that he wishes thee destroyed and brought to nought; he not only despises thy sighs and groanings, but the more he seeth thee cast down and forsaken, he pursueth thee the more fiercely and with the greater rigour; — to preclude the entrance of such evil thoughts and surmisings, he defended himself as with a shield by this consideration, that he was afflicted by the just judgment of God. He has here attributed to his own sins as the cause the weight of the wrath of God which he felt; and, as we shall find in the following verse, he again acknowledges, that what he is now suffering was procured by his own foolishness. Although, then, in bewailing his own miseries, he may seem in some measure to quarrel with God, yet he still cherishes the humble conviction, (for God afflicteth not beyond measure,) that there is no rest for him but in imploring the Divine compassion and forgiveness; whereas the ungodly, although convicted by their own consciences of guilt, murmur against God, like the wild beasts, which, in their rage, gnaw the chains with which they are bound.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Are gone over mine head.Like waves or a flood. (Comp. Psa. 18:15; Psa. 69:2; Psa. 69:15. Comp.
A sea of troubles.Hamlet, Acts 3, scene 1)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Iniquities are gone over mine head The figure is that of sinking into deep waters. The complaint of the second part of this verse is an echo of Gen 4:13. See Ezr 9:6. Whether we take ( iniquity) in the sense of guiltiness or punishment, it is insupportable, overwhelming.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 38:4. For mine iniquities i.e. The punishment of them; as Psa 31:10; Psa 32:5.Are gone over my head, is an allusion to the boisterous waves of the sea; under which a man who is shipwrecked is just ready to sink. This comparison is frequent in the psalms. Compare Psa 42:7; Psa 69:2; Psa 124:4-5.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 38:4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
Ver. 4. For mine iniquities are gone over my head ] So that I am even overwhelmed by them, and almost drowned in perdition and destruction. Sicut aquae praevalentes in quibus erat absorptus (Kimchi). The gospel is post naufragium tabula; and assureth us that God hath cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea; and this keepeth the head of a sinking soul above-water.
As an heavy burden
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
iniquities. Hebrew. ‘aven. App-44.
over mine head. The reference is to the burdens of porters and carriers, which often mount up and project over the head.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
mine: Psa 40:12, Ezr 9:6
as an: Lev 7:18, Isa 53:11, Lam 1:14, Mat 11:28, 1Pe 2:24
Reciprocal: Lev 5:1 – bear Lev 22:16 – General Num 14:34 – shall ye bear Num 15:31 – his iniquity Psa 39:10 – I am consumed Psa 49:5 – iniquity Psa 65:3 – prevail Isa 24:20 – the transgression Eze 44:10 – bear Zec 5:8 – the weight Mat 18:24 – ten thousand 2Ti 3:6 – laden
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
38:4 For mine {e} iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
(e) He confesses his sins, God’s justice, and makes prayer his refuge.