Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 38:6

"I am pained and bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long." — Psalms 38:6 (ASV)

I am troubled - Margin, “wearied.” The Hebrew word means to bend, to curve; then, to be distorted, to writhe with pain, convulsions, and spasms. In Isaiah 21:3, the same word is rendered, I was bowed down at the hearing of it; that is, sorrow so took hold of him, that upon hearing this he writhed with pain as a woman in travail. So here it means that he was bent, or bowed down, or that he writhed in pain as the result of his iniquities.

I am bowed down greatly - . The word means properly to bow down; then, to be brought low; to be depressed with pain, grief, sorrow: Psalms 10:10; Isaiah 2:11.

I go mourning all the day long - Constantly; without any intermission. On the word rendered “go mourning” - קדר qâdar - see the notes at Psalms 35:14. The idea here is, that, on account of sin, he was crushed and bowed down as a mourner is with his sorrows, and that he appeared constantly as he walked about with these badges of grief and heavy sorrow. The disease which he had, and which was so offensive to himself (Psalms 38:5) and to others (Psalms 38:11), was like the filthy and foul garments which mourners put on as expressive of their sorrow. (See Job 1:20, note; Job 2:8, note).