Bible Strands
Psalms 32:4
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist speaks to God, describing the physical and spiritual exhaustion that followed his prolonged silence and preceded his confession.
The words — תִּכְבַּד (tikhbad) literally means "it was heavy," describing the weight of God's hand, while נֶהְפַּךְ (nehpach) means "it was changed," indicating the psalmist's vitality being drained away.
The thread — The motif of a heavy divine hand appears in Psalm 38:2 and Job 33:7, where it similarly marks God's pressing judgment or corrective presence.
Why it lands — The text records the draining effect of unconfessed sin before declaring that confession directly unlocks forgiveness, requiring the reader to abandon silence and speak openly to God.
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
For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 5:11 Then the Ekronites called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!” For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was very heavy upon it.
- Psalms 38:2 For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.
- Job 33:7 Surely no fear of me should terrify you; nor will my hand be heavy upon you.
- Psalms 39:10 Remove Your scourge from me; I am perishing by the force of Your hand.
- Psalms 22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death.
- Psalms 90:6 in the morning it springs up new, but by evening it fades and withers.
- Psalms 102:3 For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
- 1 Samuel 5:6 Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.
- 1 Samuel 6:9 but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its homeland, toward Beth-shemesh, it is the LORD who has brought on us this great disaster. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.”
- Job 16:21 Oh, that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor!