“My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.”
The psalmist describes how his friends and companions stand aloof from his affliction, and his kinsmen stand far off. The social isolation compounds the physical suffering: those who should offer support instead withdraw. This verse conveys the particular cruelty of suffering: not only physical pain but the abandonment of those closest to the psalmist.
Church Fathers on Psalms 38:11
A psalm to David himself, on the remembrance of the Sabbath. 1. What does this recollection of the Sabbath mean? What is this Sabbath? For it is with groaning that he “calls it to recollection.” You have both heard already when the Psalm was read, and you will now hear it when we shall go over it, how great is his groaning, his mourning, his tears, his misery. But happy he who is wretched after this manner! Whence the Lord also in the Gospel Matthew 5:4 called some who mourn…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!