to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
rejoice
יִשְׂמְחוּyis.me.chu-
H8055
probably to brighten up · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
foot
רַ֝גְלִ֗יrag.Li
H7272
a foot (as used in walking) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
slippeth
בְּמ֥וֹטbe.Mot
H4131
to waver · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
magnify
הִגְדִּֽילוּhig.Di.lu
H1431
to be (causatively make) large (in various senses · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 32:35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that…
Psalms 94:18 When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
Psalms 13:3-4 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Psalms 35:24-26 Judge me, O LORD my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 38:12–end
In these verses,
I. David complains of the power and malice of his enemies, who, it should seem, not only took occasion from the weakness of his body and the trouble of his mind to insult over him, but took advantage thence to do him a mischief. He has a great deal to say against them, which he humbly offers as a reason why God should appear for him, as Psa 25:19, Consider my enemies. 1. "They are very spiteful and cruel: They seek my hurt; nay, they seek after my life," Psa 38:12. That life which was so precious in the sight of the Lord and all good men was aimed at, as if it had been forfeited, or a public nuisance. Such is the enmity of the serpent's seed against the seed of the woman; it…
for he is confident the
Lord--literally, "Sovereign" (to whom he was a servant), would answer his prayer (Psa 3:4; Psa 4:1), and not permit their triumph in his partial halting, of which he was in danger.
John Gill on Psalms 38:16
For I said, hear me,.... This he had expressed in prayer to God; he had committed his cause to him, and entreated him that he would hear and answer him; giving this as a reason,
lest otherwise they should rejoice over me; at his misfortunes and calamities, at the continuance of his trouble and distress, both of body and mind;
when my foot slippeth; as it sometimes did through the corruptions of nature, the temptations of Satan, and the snares of the world; which is more or less the case of all the people of God, who are all subject to slips and falls, though they shall not finally and totally fall away;
they magnify themselves against me; that is, his enemies exulted and triumphed over hi…
Psalm 38:15-20
15. For on thee, O Jehovah! do I:wait: thou wilt answer me, O Lord! [56] my God. 16. For I said, lest they rejoice over me when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me. 17. Surely I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. 18. Surely I declare my iniquity; and I am dismayed because of my sin. 19. And yet my enemies living are become strong; and they that oppose me wrongfully are become mighty. 20. And they that reader me evil for good are opposed to me; because I follow that which is good.
15 For on thee, O Jehovah! do I wait. David here shows the source of his patience. It consisted in this, that, trusting in the grace of God, he overcame all t…
The Church Fathers
"For I said, Let not mine enemies ever rejoice over me. And when my feet slip, they magnify themselves against me" (ver. 16). Again He returns to the infirmity of His Body: and again the Head takes heed of Its "feet." The Head is not in such a manner in Heaven, as to forsake what It has on earth; He evidently sees and observes us. For sometimes, as is the way of this life, our feet are "turned aside," and they slip by falling into some sin; there the tongues of the enemy rise up with the bitterest malignity. From this then we discern what they really had in view, even while they kept silence. Then they speak with an unsparing harshness; rejoicing to have discovered what they ought to have grieved for. "And I said, Lest at any time my adversaries should rejoice over me." I said this indeed; and yet it was perhaps for my correction that Thou hast caused them to "magnify themselves against me, when my feet slipped;" that is to say, when I stumbled, they were elated, and said many things. For pity, not insult, was due from them to the weak; even as the Apostle speaks: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;" and he combines the reason why: "considering thyself also, lest thou also be tempted." Not such as these were the persons of whom He speaks: "And when my feet slipped, they rejoiced greatly against me;" but they were such as those of whom He says elsewhere: "They that hate me will rejoice if I fall."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Conviction · OF SIN — OF SIN
Feet, The · Illustrative: (Sliding,) of yielding to temptation — Illustrative: (Sliding,) of yielding to temptation
Malice · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
(Heb.: 38:16-23) Become utterly useless in himself, he renounces all self-help, for (כּי) he hopes in Jahve, who alone can help him. He waits for His answer, for (כי) he says, etc. - he waits for an answer, for the hearing of this his petition which is directed towards the glory of God, that God would not suffer his foes to triumph over him, nor strengthen them in their mercilessness and injustice. Psa 38:18 appears also to stand under the government of the פּן;
(Note: The following are the constructions of פן when a clause of ore than one member follows it: (1) fut. and perf., the latter with the tone of the perf. consec., e.g., Exo 34:15., or without it, e.g., Psa 28:1 (which see); (2) fut…
The Lord alone will resolve the conflict (9:18; 27:14; 37:9, 34).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 38:16
For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.
For I said, hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me. The good man was not insensible, he dreaded the sharp stings of taunting malice; he feared lest either by his conduct or his condition, he should give occasion to the wicked to triumph. This fear his earnest desires used as an argument in prayer as well as an incentive to prayer. When my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me. The least flaw in a saint is sure to be noticed; long before it comes to a fall the enemy begins to rail, the merest trip of the foot sets all the dogs of hell barking. H…