My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.
Parallel translations
- WEB My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand far away.
- BSB My beloved and friends shun my disease, and my kinsmen stand at a distance.
- NKJV My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague, And my relatives stand afar off.
- NASB My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague; And my kinsmen stand far away.
- NLT My loved ones and friends stay away, fearing my disease. Even my own family stands at a distance.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David's friends and relatives keep their distance in his affliction, leaving him isolated. Suffering can compound loneliness when those nearest withdraw.
Overview
In this penitential psalm, David's sickness and sin have made him an outcast even to those who should support him. The abandonment deepens his sense of being under God's hand. It foreshadows the greater Sufferer, Christ, whom His friends forsook in His hour of trial (Matthew 26:56).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 31:11I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.
- Luke 23:49And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.
- Job 19:13–17He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
- Luke 10:31–32And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
- Luke 22:54Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off.
- Ps 88:18Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.
- John 16:32Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
- Job 6:21–23For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid.
- Matt 26:56But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
- Isa 53:4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
- Isa 53:8He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 38:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.