Psalms 32:3

“When I kept silence, etc.] Was unthoughtful of sin, unconcerned about it, and made no acknowledgment and confession of it to God, being quite senseless and stupid; the Targum adds, “from the words of the law”; which seems to point at sin as the cause of what follows; my bones waxed old; through my roaring all the day long; not under a sense of sin, but under some severe affliction, and through impatience in it; not considering that sin lay at the bottom, and was the occasion of it; and such was the violence of the disorder, and his uneasiness under it, that his strength was dried up by it, and his bones stuck out as they do in aged persons, whose flesh is wasted away from them; (see…”

“A vivid description of felt, but unacknowledged, sin. When--literally, "for," as in Psa 32:4.”

“When I kept silence - The psalmist now proceeds to state his condition of mind before he himself found this peace, or before he had this evidence of pardon; the state in which he felt deeply that he was a sinner, yet was unwilling to confess his sin, and attempted to conceal it in his own heart. This he refers to by the expression, “When I kept silence;” that is, before I confessed my sin, or before I made mention of it to God. The condition of mind was evidently this: he had committed sin, but he endeavored to hide it in his own mind; he was unwilling to make confession of it, and to implore pardon. He hoped, probably, that the conviction of sin would die away; or that his trouble would…”

“Silence - From a full and open confession of my sins. Old - My spirit failed, and the strength of my body decayed. Roaring - Because of the continual horrors of my conscience, and sense of God's wrath. Psalms 32:4”

“32:3-5 The psalmist acknowledges his own sin (see 19:12-13; 25:7, 11, 15-22) and his resistance to confessing sin. The Lord pressed him hard until he confessed his guilt.”

“When: Gen 3:8-19; Sa1 31:13; Sa2 11:27, Sa2 12:1-12, Sa2 21:12-14; Pro 28:13; Isa 57:17; Jer 31:18, Jer 31:19; Luk 15:15, Luk 15:16 bones: Psa 6:2, Psa 31:9, Psa 31:10, Psa 38:3, Psa 51:8, Psa 102:3-5; Job 30:17, Job 30:30; Lam 1:3, Lam 3:4 roaring: Psa 22:1, Psa 38:8; Job 3:24; Isa 51:20, Isa 59:11; Lam 3:8; Hos 7:14 Psalms 32:4”

“For, as his own experience has taught the poet, he who does not in confession pour out all his corruption before God, only tortures himself until he unburdens himself of his secret curse. Since Psa 32:3 by itself cannot be regarded as the reason for the proposition just laid down, כּי signifies either "because, quod" (e.g., Pro 22:22) or "when, quum" ( Jdg 16:16; Hos 11:10. The שׁאגה was an outburst of the tortures which his accusing conscience prepared for him. The more he strove against confessing, the louder did conscience speak; and while it was not in his power to silence this inward voice, in which the wrath of God found utterance, he cried the whole day, viz., for help; but while his…”