Psalm 88

New International Version

Psalm 88^[a]

A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth.^[b] A maskil^[c] of Heman the Ezrahite.

¹Lord, you are the God who saves me;^(A)
day and night I cry out^(B) to you.
²May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.

³I am overwhelmed with troubles^(C)
    and my life draws near to death.^(D)
⁴I am counted among those who go down to the pit;^(E)
    I am like one without strength.^(F)
⁵I am set apart with the dead,
    like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
    who are cut off^(G) from your care.

⁶You have put me in the lowest pit,
    in the darkest depths.^(H)
⁷Your wrath^(I) lies heavily on me;
    you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.^[d]^(J)
⁸You have taken from me my closest friends^(K)
    and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined^(L) and cannot escape;^(M)
⁹    my eyes^(N) are dim with grief.

I call^(O) to you, Lord, every day;
    I spread out my hands^(P) to you.
¹⁰Do you show your wonders to the dead?
    Do their spirits rise up and praise you?^(Q)
¹¹Is your love declared in the grave,
    your faithfulness^(R) in Destruction^[e]?
¹²Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
    or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

¹³But I cry to you for help,^(S) Lord;
in the morning^(T) my prayer comes before you.^(U)
¹⁴Why, Lord, do you reject^(V) me
and hide your face^(W) from me?

¹⁵From my youth^(X) I have suffered^(Y) and been close to death;
    I have borne your terrors^(Z) and am in despair.^(AA)
¹⁶Your wrath^(AB) has swept over me;
    your terrors^(AC) have destroyed me.
¹⁷All day long they surround me like a flood;^(AD)
    they have completely engulfed me.
¹⁸You have taken from me friend^(AE) and neighbor—
    darkness is my closest friend.

Footnotes

Psalm 88:1 In Hebrew texts 88:1-18 is numbered 88:2-19.
Psalm 88:1 Title: Possibly a tune, “The Suffering of Affliction”
Psalm 88:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Psalm 88:7 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 10.
Psalm 88:11 Hebrew Abaddon

Leviticus 15:19-31

New International Version

¹⁹“‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period^(A) will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.

²⁰“‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. ²¹Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.^(B) ²²Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. ²³Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, they will be unclean till evening.

²⁴“‘If a man has sexual relations with her and her monthly flow^(C) touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.

²⁵“‘When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period^(D) or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. ²⁶Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. ²⁷Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

²⁸“‘When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. ²⁹On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons^(E) and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ³⁰The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the Lord for the uncleanness of her discharge.^(F)

³¹“‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place,^[a]^(G) which is among them.’”

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Footnotes

Leviticus 15:31 Or my tabernacle

2 Corinthians 9:1-5

New International Version

9 There is no need^(A) for me to write to you about this service^(B) to the Lord’s people.^(C) ²For I know your eagerness to help,^(D) and I have been boasting^(E) about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year^(F) you in Achaia^(G) were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. ³But I am sending the brothers^(H) in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be.^(I) ⁴For if any Macedonians^(J) come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident. ⁵So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers^(K) to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift,^(L) not as one grudgingly given.^(M)