John Gill Commentary Psalms 38:10

"My heart throbbeth, my strength faileth me: As for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me." — Psalms 38:10 (ASV)

My heart panteth
Or "goes about" ^F13 ; runs here and there, and finds no rest; as Aben Ezra interprets the word from the Targum he cites; though the Targum we have renders it, "my heart shakes with fear", or dread, as persons in a fever.

Jarchi interprets the word, surrounded with grief; it denotes the panting or palpitation of the heart, through sorrow and dread, and the failing of it, even as at death;

my strength fails me ,
or "forsakes me" ^F14 ; bodily strength and spiritual strength; the strength of faith, hope, and confidence;

as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me ;
which is often the case of persons under bodily disorders, their eyes grow dim, and sight fails them.

And this might be true in a spiritual sense of the psalmist, who had lost sight of God as his covenant God; of his interest in his love, in the blessings of his grace, and in eternal salvation, and was walking in darkness, and saw no light.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F13: (rxrxo) "circuivit", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.
• F14: (ynbze) "dereliquit me", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Musculus, Cocceius.