Psalms 41:4

I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
said	אָ֭מַרְתִּי 'A.mar.ti	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
LORD	יְהוָ֣ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
merciful	חָנֵּ֑נִי cho.ne.ni	H2603	properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
heal	רְפָאָ֥ה re.fa.'Ah	H7495	properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
soul	נַ֝פְשִׁ֗י naf.Shi	H5315	properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
sinned	חָטָ֥אתִי cha.Ta.ti	H2398	properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular

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

Psalms 103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
James 5:15-16 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Hosea 6:1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
2 Chronicles 30:18-20 For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the…
Psalms 6:2-4 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
Psalms 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgaves…
Psalms 147:3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
Psalms 51:1-4 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 41:1-4

In these verses we have, I. God's promises of succour and comfort to those that consider the poor; and, 1. We may suppose that David makes mention of these with application either, (1.) To his friends, who were kind to him, and very considerate of his case, now that he was in affliction: Blessed is he that considers poor David. Here and there he met with one that sympathized with him, and was concerned for him, and kept up his good opinion of him and respect for him, notwithstanding his afflictions, while his enemies were so insolent and abusive to him; on these he pronounced this blessing, not doubting but that God would recompense to them all the kindness they had done him, particularly wh…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 41:4

I said--I asked the mercy I show. heal my soul--(Compare Psa 30:2). "Sin and suffering are united," is one of the great teachings of the Psalms.

John Gill on Psalms 41:4

I said, Lord, be merciful unto me,.... See Gill on Psalm 40:11; heal my soul; not that it was diseased with sin in such sense as the souls of other men are; but it is to be understood as a petition for comfort while bearing the sins of others, and which Christ as man stood in need of when in the garden and on the cross; so healing signifies comfort in trouble, as in Isaiah 57:18; for I have sinned against thee; or "unto thee", or "before thee", as the Targum; not that any sin was committed by him in his own person, but he having all the sins of his people on him, which he calls his own, Psalm 40:12; he was treated as a sinner, and as guilty before God, Isaiah 53:12; and so the words may be…

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John Calvin on Psalms 41:4-6

Psalm 41:4-6 4. I have said, O Jehovah! Have mercy upon me: heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. 5. My enemies have spoken evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish? 6. And if he come to see me, he speaketh lies: his heart heapeth up iniquity to himself; when he shall have gone forth he will tell it. 4. I have said, O Jehovah! have mercy upon me. By this verse he shows that in his adversity he did not seek to soothe his mind by flattery, as the greater part of men do, who endeavor to assuage their sorrows by some vain consolation. And, certainly, the man who is guided by the Spirit of God will, when warned of God by the afflictions with which he is visited, frankly acknow…

The Church Fathers

Every sin is a sickness of the soul. As it grows stronger, the health of the inner person decreases. He who cried out to the Physician was aware of his illness, but in that understanding he was already healthy in so far as he recognized that he was weak. So he wishes for his soul to be healed, namely, by the forgiveness of sins.
— Cassiodorus, EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 41:5

I am the one who is poor, he is saying, who embraced voluntary poverty, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who makes my own the sufferings of human beings, who though having committed no sin offers the prayer for human nature as nature's firstfruits. It should be noted, however, that Symmachus said not "because I sinned against you" but "even if I sinned against you."
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 41:4

God will heal you if only you admit your wound. You lie under the physician's hands; patiently implore his aid. If he bathes or burns or cuts it, bear it calmly; do not even pay any attention to it, provided you are cured. Moreover, you will be cured if you present yourself to the doctor. Not that he does not see you hide, but confession is the very beginning of restoration to health.
— Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 59:5

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Psalms 41:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 41:1-4

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 41:4

John Gill on Psalms 41:4

John Calvin on Psalms 41:4-6

The Church Fathers

Psalms 41:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 41:1-4

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 41:4

John Gill on Psalms 41:4

John Calvin on Psalms 41:4-6

The Church Fathers

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 41:4-6

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 41:4

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 41:4-9