Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 38:2

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

For your arrows ... — The same figure is used for the disease from which Job suffered (elephantiasis? Job 6:4); for famine (Ezekiel 5:16); and generally for divine judgments (Deuteronomy 32:23). By itself, it therefore decides nothing about the particular cause of the Psalmist’s grief.

Stick fast. — It is better understood as have sunk into, from a root meaning to descend. The word Presseth, in the next clause of the Psalm, is from the same verb. Translate, therefore, as follows:

For your arrows have fallen deep into me,
And fallen upon me has your hand.