My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,

All the day long is my dishonor before me, And the shame of my face hath covered me,

All the day long my shame is before me : and the confusion of my face hath covered me,

All the day long is my dishonour before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,

My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face has covered me,

My downfall is ever before me, and I am covered with the shame of my face;

Thou makest us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.

My reproach is daily before me. The Hebrew words klhyvm, col-hayom, mean all the day, and denote long continuance: but they may be understood in two ways, either for the whole or entire day, from morning to evening, or for continued succession of days. According to either of these interpretations, the meaning is, that there is no end to their misfortunes. As to the change of the number from the plural to the singular, it is not at all inconsistent that what is spoken in the name of the Church should be uttered, as it were, in the person of one man. The reason is added why they were so overwhelmed with shame, that they dared not to lift up their eyes and their face, namely, because they had no respite, but were incessantly subjected to the insolence and reproach of their enemies. Had they been allowed to hide themselves in some corner, they might have endured, as well as they were able, their calamities in secret; but when their enemies openly derided them with the greatest insolence, it served to redouble the wound inflicted upon them. They, therefore, complain that their calamities had accumulated to such an extent, that they were forced unceasingly to hear blasphemies and bitter reproaches. They describe their enemies by the epithet avengers, a term which, among the Hebrews, denotes barbarity and cruelty, accompanied with pride, as we have remarked on the8th Psalm

My confusion is continually before me - My shame; the conviction and the evidence of my disgrace is constantly present with me. Literally, "all the day my shame is before me." That is, the evidences of disgrace, defeat, and disaster; render everywhere around him, and he could not conceal them from himself. The psalmist here is represented as the head of the people, and expresses the sense of disgrace which the sovereign era people would feel in a time of national calamity; identifying himself with the people, he speaks of the national disgrace as his own.
And the shame of my face - The shame that is manifested on the countenance when we blush.
Hath covered me - That is, I am suffused with the evidence of my shame; or, as we sometimes say, "he blushed all over." The blush, however - that special rush of blood manifesting itself through the skin - which constitutes the evidence of shame, is confined to the face and the neck; an arrangement which none can explain, except on the supposition that there is a God; that he is a moral governor; and that, as it was designed that the body should be covered or clothed, he meant that the evidence of guilt should manifest itself on the parts of the person which are most exposed to view, or where others could see it. The idea here is, that he could not conceal the proofs of his shame and disgrace; he was compelled to exhibit them to all around.

My (m) confusion [is] continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
(m) I dare not lift up my head for shame.

My confusion is continually before me,.... Meaning that which is the occasion of it;
and the shame of my face hath covered me; not by reason of sin, which is often the cause of confusion and shame in God's people; see Jeremiah 3:25; but on account of what follows.

shame of . . . face--blushes in disgrace.