Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 38:2

"For thine arrows stick fast in me, And thy hand presseth me sore." — Psalms 38:2 (ASV)

For your arrows stick fast in me - See the notes at Job 6:4. The word rendered “stick fast”—נחת nâchath—properly means to go or come down, to descend, and the literal idea here would be, “your arrows come down upon me.” It is not so much the idea of their “sticking fast” when in the wound or flesh; it is that they come down upon one and pierce him.

The meaning is that he was afflicted “as if” God had wounded him with arrows—arrows that pierced deep in his flesh. Compare the notes at Psalm 45:5. The allusion is to the disease with which he was afflicted.

And your hand presseth me sore - The same word is used here that in the first part of the verse is rendered “stick fast.” The idea is that the hand of God had “descended” or “come down” upon him, prostrating his strength and laying him on a bed of pain.