O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
Parallel translations
- WEB A Psalm by David, for a memorial. Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your wrath, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.
- BSB A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
- NKJV O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath, Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!
- NASB Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath, And do not punish me in Your burning anger.
- NLT O Lord, don’t rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your rage!
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 pleads that God not rebuke or chasten him in wrath. He asks for correction tempered by mercy, not the fury of judgment.
Overview
This penitential psalm opens with a cry that God's discipline not come as wrathful punishment. David accepts that he deserves correction but begs that it be in love, not hot displeasure. Such a plea anticipates the gospel, where God's wrath against sin was poured out on Christ, so that His dealings with believers are now fatherly discipline, not condemnation (Hebrews 12:6; Romans 8:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 54:8In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
- Heb 12:5–11And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
- Ps 6:1O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
- Ps 70:1MAKE HASTE, O GOD, TO DELIVER ME; MAKE HASTE TO HELP ME, O LORD.
- Jer 30:11For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
- Jer 10:24O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
- Isa 27:8In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
- Hab 3:2O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
- Ps 88:7Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
- Ps 88:15–16I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
- Deut 9:19For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 38:1 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.