When I kept silence; i.e. so long as I did not acknowledge my sin—while I remained silent about it, quite aware that I hod sinned grievously, suffering in conscience, but not confessing it even to myself.
The time spoken of is that which immediately followed the commission of the adultery, and which continued until Nathan uttered the words, "Thou art the man!" (2 Samuel 12:7). My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long; i.
e. I suffered grievous pain, both bodily and mental. My bones ached (comp. Psalms 6:2; Psalms 31:10); and I "roared," or groaned, in spirit, all the day long." Unconfessed sin rankles in the heart of a man who is not far gone in vice, but has been surprised into a wicked action, no sooner done than regretted.
Such a one, in Archbishop Leighton's words, "Vulnus alit venis et caeco carpitur igne."