“For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.”
The psalmist describes how God's arrows have sunk into him and God's hand has come down upon him. The imagery of arrows suggests the swift and painful wounding that has pierced the psalmist. The reference to God's hand coming down suggests comprehensive divine action that has affected the psalmist's entire being. These verses employ the language of divine punishment, establishing that the psalmist's affliction is understood as the effect of God's wrath.
Church Fathers on Psalms 38:2
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
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