Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 38:5

"My wounds are loathsome and corrupt, Because of my foolishness." — Psalms 38:5 (ASV)

My wounds stink - The word translated "wounds" here properly means the swelling or welts produced by stripes. See the notes on Isaiah 1:6 and Isaiah 53:5. The meaning here is that he was under chastisement for his sin; that the stripes or blows because of it had not only left a mark and produced a swelling, but that the skin itself had been broken, and the flesh had become corrupt, and the sore offensive.

Many expositors regard this as a mere figurative representation of the sorrow produced by the consciousness of sin, and of the loathsome nature of sin. However, it seems to me that the whole context rather requires us to understand it as bodily suffering or disease.

And are corrupt - The word used here—מקק mâqaq—properly means to melt, to pine away, and then, to flow or run, as sores and ulcers do. The meaning here is, my sores run; that is, with corrupt matter.

Because of my foolishness - This refers to my sin, regarded as folly. Compare the notes on Psalm 14:1. The Scriptural idea is that sin is the highest folly. Hence, the psalmist, at the same time that he confesses his sin, also acknowledges its foolishness. The ideas of sin and folly become so blended—or they are so entirely synonymous—that one term may be used for the other.