What Does Psalm 38:1 Mean?
A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. O LORD, do not reprove me in the burning of your anger, nor straighten me in your heat.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.THE KEY
The prayer does not ask to escape correction; it asks that correction not arrive inside the LORD’s scorching anger.
THE MEANING
This prayer gives words to the moment when correction feels joined to anger: it asks that rebuke and discipline not come in divine wrath. The Hebrew word for “chasten” also carries the sense of instruction, while “hot displeasure” names heat; the plea concerns the force surrounding correction, not an escape from being corrected.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Every correction is proof that I am being met with anger.
THE ROOT
תְיַסְּרֵנִי
tĕyassĕrēnî
GROWS FROM
יסר
To discipline, correct, or instruct.
“straighten” in this verse is tĕyassĕrēnî. The word for “chasten” comes from a root that also yields מוּסָר (mūsār), “instruction” or “discipline.” Correction can carry formation and pain together; the prayer asks that it not be enclosed by heat and rage.
ALSO GROWS
mūsār: Instruction; discipline.
מוּסָר
This branch lets the verse’s correction carry a sense of teaching and formation.
yissūrīm: Chastisements; afflictions.
יִסּוּרִים
This branch preserves the painful force of discipline that the prayer names.
חֲמָתְךָ
ḥămāṯəḵā
GROWS FROM
חמה
Heat; by extension, rage or fury.
“your heat” in this verse is ḥămāṯəḵā. The Hebrew word ḥēmāh (חֵמָה) carries both heat and rage. The English phrase “hot displeasure” preserves the temperature, while Hebrew keeps heat at the center of the word itself.
ALSO GROWS
ḥam: Hot; warm.
חַם
This related form keeps the physical image of heat visible in “hot displeasure.”
ḥammāh: Sun; the heating one.
חַמָּה
This related form connects the word family with a source of heat, making the verse’s anger imagery concrete.
THE PATTERN
Correction is not identical with anger: scripture can plead against correction in wrath and describe discipline as an expression of love.
To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. O LORD, do not rebuke me in the burning of your anger, nor straighten me in your heat.My son, do not spurn the straightening of the LORD, and do not tire of his reproof.For whom the LORD loves, he trains, and he whips every son he takes to his side.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. O LORD, do not rebuke me in the burning of your anger, nor straighten me in your heat.The same Hebrew root יסר (y-s-r; yāsar), “to discipline or instruct,” appears in both prayers, alongside words for anger and heat. The repeated wording makes the request precise: the speaker names the correction and pleads about the anger surrounding it.
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