The Sinking Man
I am like a man who cannot hear, whose mouth offers no reply. Psalm 38:14 · Berean Standard Bible
David repeats and emphasizes that he's deliberately staying silent, not hearing the accusations or responding to them—like someone who can't or won't engage.
The repetition underscores David's commitment to this silence. It's not accidental; it's deliberate. By not defending himself, he's essentially placing his case entirely in God's hands. He's saying, 'I'm not going to waste energy fighting back. God will handle this.'
David, reinforcing his choice of silence
Biblical trust sometimes looks like refusing to defend yourself because you believe God will vindicate you. It's the opposite of what our culture usually suggests.
The psalmist reiterates his posture of non-response, emphasizing that he neither hears accusations nor offers defense.
This verse appears largely repetitive of verse 13, but the slight variation—emphasizing that he 'cannot hear' (לֹא יִשְׁמַע, lo yishma) and 'offers no reply' (וּפִיו לֹא יַעֲנֶה, u-piyu lo yaaneh)—intensifies the image through parallel structure. In Hebrew rhetoric, repetition emphasizes gravity and immovability, as if the psalmist has become a fixed point of silence amid swirling accusation.
The psalmist, using formulaic repetition to cement his commitment to non-retaliation as a spiritual practice.
The doubling of this motif signals its theological importance: the refusal to answer one's accusers becomes itself a form of righteousness and a witness to integrity.
12Those who seek my life lay snares; those who wish me harm speak destruction, plotting deceit all day long.
13But like a deaf man, I do not hear; and like a mute man, I do not open my mouth.
14I am like a man who cannot hear, whose mouth offers no reply.
15I wait for You, O LORD; You will answer, O Lord my God.
16For I said, “Let them not gloat over me— those who taunt me when my foot slips.”
Read all of Psalm 38 — David is drowning — in guilt, in pain, in isolation. His friends stand far off. His enemies close in. All he has left is God.
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