Bible Strands
Psalms 32:3
When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God, describing the immediate physical and spiritual consequence of unconfessed sin, positioned between a declaration of divine forgiveness (v. 2) and a description of God's heavy discipline (v. 4).
The words — הֶ֭חֱרַשְׁתִּי (He.che.rash.ti) translates as "I kept silent," and בָּל֣וּ (ba.Lu) means "they became worn out," directly naming the act of concealment and its physiological result.
The thread — The link between hidden guilt and bodily decay appears in Psalms 38:3 and 38:8, while Proverbs 28:13 contrasts this outcome with the mercy granted to those who confess.
Why it lands — The text demands that a reader acknowledge unconfessed sin as a self-destructive force, requiring honest disclosure to God rather than continued concealment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
- Psalms 38:3 There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin.
- Psalms 38:8 I am numb and badly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.
- Psalms 22:1 For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning?
- Lamentations 3:8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
- Job 30:30 My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
- Hosea 7:14 They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.
- Psalms 6:2 Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am frail; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are in agony.
- Psalms 31:9 Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes fail from sorrow, my soul and body as well.
- Psalms 51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.