For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The verse uses two related verbs to describe God's actions, suggesting that these "arrows" are not just randomly striking, but are "descending" and "falling upon" the psalmist with deliberate, heavy force. This emphasizes that the afflictions, whether seen as external judgments or internal suffering, are perceived as a powerful, oppressive divine action directly upon him.
For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Psalmist is in deep distress, feeling the full weight of God's judgment upon him. He describes these afflictions using powerful imagery of divine weapons piercing him and God's overwhelming hand pressing down, suggesting both acute pain and a crushing burden he can barely bear. This intense suffering is directly linked to a profound sense of sin, which he acknowledges as the cause of God's displeasure and his current agony.
Ever felt like God is striking you down, not with a gentle nudge, but with sharp, penetrating pain? This verse paints a vivid picture of such an experience.
The Psalmist uses the powerful image of 'arrows' to describe God's actions against him. This isn't a passive observation; these arrows have 'sunk into me.' This suggests a deep, piercing, and painful experience.
A Deliberate Attack
Ancient Near Eastern cultures understood divine displeasure through warfare. Arrows were instruments of attack, swift and deadly. When the Psalmist speaks of God's arrows, he's not talking about random misfortune. He sees these afflictions as deliberate judgments sent by God, designed to wound and subdue.
More Than Physical Pain
While these 'arrows' might manifest as physical sickness or intense emotional distress, the core meaning is divine discipline. They represent the sharp, painful consequences of sin or actions that have drawn God's rebuke. The language conveys a sense of being personally targeted by God's displeasure.
Beyond the piercing pain, there's another sensation: a heavy, inescapable pressure. What does it mean when God's hand 'presses down'?
Following the image of piercing arrows, the Psalmist adds, 'and your hand has come down on me.' This shifts the focus from sharp wounds to overwhelming pressure. It's the difference between being struck and being crushed.
A Mighty Force
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The 'hand' of God in Scripture often represents His power, authority, and direct action. When His hand 'presses down,' it signifies an immense, overwhelming force bearing upon the individual. It speaks of burdens that feel impossible to bear, a weight of affliction that seems inescapable.
Intimate and Personal Affliction
The Hebrew word used here for 'presses down' is the same root word for 'fallen' in the first clause. This suggests a unified action: God's hand has fallen upon the Psalmist, just as His arrows have fallen deep. It emphasizes that this isn't a distant, impersonal force, but a direct, heavy, and personal engagement with God in his suffering. It's a situation where one feels utterly subdued by divine power.
Understand the original words
chets · Hebrew Noun
In poetic and prophetic language, these symbolize the piercing, painful, and targeted judgments or afflictions sent by God to bring a person to their senses.
yad · Hebrew Noun
A metaphor for God's power, intervention, or heavy providential involvement in the life of an individual, whether for blessing or, as in this context, for pressing down in judgment.
metom · Hebrew Noun
A general state of wholeness, well-being, or health, particularly referring to the physical or moral integrity of a person.
zaam · Hebrew Noun
The manifestation of God's holy displeasure against sin; it reflects His intense and settled opposition to moral failing.
shalom · Hebrew Noun
The state of being complete, well, or safe; it conveys the idea of a wholeness that has been broken by external or internal affliction.
chattath · Hebrew Noun
A broad term for moral failure, wrongdoing, or "missing the mark" of God's perfect standard, which separates humanity from God.
The imagery of God's 'arrows' and 'hand' in Psalm 38 likely refers to divine judgments, which could manifest as severe illness, intense emotional distress, or the calamities of war and rebellion that David faced during his tumultuous life.
c. 1000 BC— this verse
David's Reign as King
David is the likely author of Psalm 38, a penitential psalm reflecting deep suffering. His reign was marked by significant spiritual and personal crises, including his sin with Bathsheba and the subsequent turmoil.
c. 1000 BC
David's Sin with Bathsheba
This period of profound moral failure and its consequences, including the death of their first child, is often considered a key context for David's penitential psalms, possibly including Psalm 38.
c. 990 BC
Absalom's Rebellion
The rebellion led by David's son Absalom caused immense personal anguish and widespread conflict, forcing David to flee Jerusalem. Such a crisis could easily inspire a psalm of deep personal suffering and divine chastisement.
c. 970 BC
David's Later Years and Illnesses
Towards the end of his life, David faced various challenges and illnesses. The imagery of being struck by divine arrows and crushed by God's hand could reflect the physical and emotional toll of these later-life struggles.
This passage also uses the imagery of God's arrows to describe severe suffering, highlighting the overwhelming nature of divine judgment and its painful impact on the individual.
Deuteronomy 32:23This verse directly states that God will send His arrows and consume His enemies, providing a clear Old Testament parallel to the psalmist's experience of suffering as divinely inflicted judgment.
Lamentations 3:12-13Here, Jeremiah also speaks of God as an archer who has shot his arrows into him, reinforcing the theme of intense personal suffering understood as targeted divine action.
Isaiah 53:5This prophetic passage describes the Suffering Servant being 'pierced for our transgressions' and 'crushed for our iniquities,' offering a redemptive perspective on suffering that mirrors the imagery of being struck and pressed by divine judgment.
jfbPsalms 38:2: "For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore."
- arrows … and thy hand—the sharp and heavy afflictions he suffered (De 32:23).
ellicottPsalms 38:2: "For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore."
(2) For thine arrows . . . —The same figure is used of the disease from which Job suffered (elephantiasis? Job 6:4 ); of famine ( Ezekiel 5:16 ); and generally of divine judgments ( Deuteronomy 32:23 ). By itself it therefore decides nothing as to the particular cause of the Psalmist’s grief. Stick fast.—Better, have sunk into, from a root meaning to descend. Presseth, in the next clause, is from the same verb. Tra…
The verse uses two related verbs to describe God's actions, suggesting that these "arrows" are not just randomly striking, but are "descending" and "falling upon" the psalmist with deliberate, heavy force. This emphasizes that the afflictions, whether seen as external judgments or internal suffering, are perceived as a powerful, oppressive divine action directly upon him.
The Psalmist is in deep distress, feeling the full weight of God's judgment upon him. He describes these afflictions using powerful imagery of divine weapons piercing him and God's overwhelming hand pressing down, suggesting both acute pain and a crushing burden he can barely bear. This intense suffering is directly linked to a profound sense of sin, which he acknowledges as the cause of God's displeasure and his current agony.
The Psalmist is in deep distress, feeling the full weight of God's judgment upon him. He describes these afflictions using powerful imagery of divine weapons piercing him and God's overwhelming hand pressing down, suggesting both acute pain and a crushing burden he can barely bear. This intense suffering is directly linked to a profound sense of sin, which he acknowledges as the cause of God's displeasure and his current agony.
"For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin." — The verse uses two related verbs to describe God's actions, suggesting that these "arrows" are not just randomly striking, but are "descending" and "falling upon" the psalmist with deliberate, heavy…
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Last reviewed October 2026