3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
There is no soundness in my flesh because of thy anger Others translate, There is no beauty; but this does not seem to be so suitable. In the clause which follows, David ascribes to God the praise of righteousness, without which, the acknowledgement which he formerly made would be of little avail; nay, instead of this, such an acknowledgement sometimes rather exasperates the minds of men, so that they provoke the wrath of God still more, by charging him with cruelty, and pouring forth horrible blasphemies against him. Nothing, therefore, can be more preposterous, than to imagine that there is in God a power so supreme and absolute, (as it is termed,) as to deprive him of his righteousness. David, as soon as he recognised his affliction as coming from God, turns to his own sin as the cause of the Divine displeasure; for he had already been fully satisfied in his own mind, that he is not like a tyrant who exercises cruelty needlessly and at random, but a righteous judge, who never manifests his displeasure by inflicting judgments but when he is grievously offended. If, then, we would render to God the praise which is due to him, let us learn by the example of David to connect our sins with his wrath.
There is no soundness in my flesh - There is no sound place in my flesh; there is no part of my body that is free from disease. The word used here - מתם methôm - occurs only in Judges 20:48, where it is rendered "men;" in Isaiah 1:6, and in this place, where it is rendered "soundness." See the notes at Isaiah 1:6. It means that the body was wholly diseased; but what was the nature of the disease we are not informed. It would seem, however, that it was some cutaneous disease, or some disease that produced outward and loathsome eruptions that made his friends withdraw from him, Psalm 38:7, Psalm 38:11; compare Psalm 41:8.
Because of thine anger - That is, he regarded this as a punishment for sin; a specific manifestation of the divine displeasure on account of some particular offence or act of transgression. He does not refer, however, to the particular sin which he regarded as the cause of his sickness, and it is probable that this is just an instance of that state of mind, often morbid, in which we consider a particular calamity that comes upon us as a special proof of the divine displeasure. There are, undoubtedly, cases when sickness may be properly thus regarded; but it should be observed that, as this is not the universal rule in regard to sickness and other trials - as they come upon us under general laws, and because in sweeping over a community they often fall upon the righteous as well as the wicked, - we should not infer at once, when we are sick or otherwise afflicted, that it is for any "particular" sin, or that it is proof of any special displeasure of God against us. It is undoubtedly right to regard all affliction as having a close connection with sin, and to allow any calamity to suggest to us the idea of our depravity, for sin is the original cause of all the wretchedness and woe on earth; but under this general law we cannot always determine the "particular" reason why calamity comes on us. It may have other purposes and ends than that of being a specific punishment for our offences.
Neither is there any rest in my bones - Margin: "peace" or "health." The Hebrew word means "peace." The idea is, that there was no comfort; no rest. His bones were filled with constant pain. The flesh "and the bones" constitute the entire man; and the idea here is, that he was universally diseased. The disease pervaded every part of the body.
Because of my sin - Regarding his sin as the immediate cause of his suffering. In a general sense, as has been remarked above, it is not wrong to regard sin as the cause of all our misery, and we may allow our suffering to be, in some degree, a measure or gauge of the evil of sin. The error consists in our regarding a particular form of trial as the punishment of a particular sin. The effect in the case of tile psalmist was undoubtedly to bring to remembrance his sins; to impress his mind deeply with a sense of the evil of sin; to humble him at the recollection of guilt. This effect is not improper or undesirable, provided it does not lead us to the conclusion, often erroneous, that our affliction has come upon us on account of a particular transgression. That may be so indeed; but the idea that that is the universal rule in regard to affliction is one which we are not required to entertain. See the notes at Luke 13:1-5.
No soundness in my flesh - This seems to refer to some disorder which so affected the muscles as to produce sores and ulcers; and so affected his bones as to leave him no peace nor rest. In short, he was completely and thoroughtly diseased; and all this he attributes to his sin, either as being its natural consequence, or as being inflicted by the Lord as a punishment on its account.
[There is] no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither [is there any] rest in my bones because of my (d) sin.
(d) David acknowledges God to be just in his punishments, because his sins had deserved much more.
There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger,.... Such was the nature of the affliction the psalmist laboured under, and which he took to be an effect of the anger of God towards him, that the whole frame of nature was affected with it, and from the crown of the head to, the soles of the feet there was no health or soundness, as in Isaiah 1:6; where the same word is used as here; some think the word (g) here used has the signification of man; and that the sense is, that through, the violence of the distemper he had not so much, as the form of a man, as his antitype in Isaiah 52:14; and as this led him to a view of his sins, as the cause of his affliction, he was so far from thinking himself sound and whole, or perfect in a spiritual sense, that he saw he was all over diseased with sin, and that in his flesh dwelt no good thing;
neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin; or "peace" (h) there; sin breaks the believer's rest, and disturbs his peace; nor can he, in a view of it, find any rest in himself, nor in any creature, nor in any service or duty, only in Jesus Christ, his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice.
(g) "non superest amplius ulla forma seu figura hominis", Amama; so Joseph Kimchi. (h) "non (est) pax", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Musculus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.
Sin - Which hath provoked thee to deal thus severely with me.
*More commentary available at chapter level.