This prayer psalm of the individual suits the special needs of sickness (cf. Ps. 41). It reflects the typical predicament in which the sick found themselves. It was common in ancient Israel (Job is the most notable OT case) and elsewhere in the ancient Near East to assume the sick person was suffering divine judgment for some sin against God or the gods (for a graphic portrayal of this world view in the ancient Near East, see Keel, Symbolism, pp. 79–81). As a result, acquaintances kept their distance from the “sinner.” The sick suffered not only physical and emotional anguish (“My back is filled with searing pain,” and “I groan in anguish of heart,” vv. 7, 8) but also social alienation (“My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds,” v. 11), personal guilt (“My guilt has overwhe…