88 O Yahweh, God of my salvation,
I cry out by day and through the night before you.
² Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry.
³ For my soul is full with troubles,
and my life approaches Sheol.
⁴ I am reckoned with those descending to the pit.
I am like a man^[b] without strength,^[c]
5 set free^[d] among the dead,
like the slain lying in the grave,
whom you no longer remember,
even those cut off from your hand.
⁶ You have set me in the pit below,
in dark places, in the depths.
⁷ Your wrath presses upon me,
and you afflict me with all your waves. Selah
⁸ You have removed my acquaintances far from me.
You have made me detestable^[e] to them.
I am confined and cannot go out.
⁹ My eye languishes from misery.
I call on you, O Yahweh, every day;
I spread out my hands^[f] to you.
¹⁰ Do you work wonders^[g] for the dead?
Or do the departed spirits^[h] rise up to praise you? Selah
¹¹ Is your loyal love told in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the underworld?^[i]
12 Are your wonders^[j] known in the darkness,
or your righteousness^[k] in the land of forgetfulness?
¹³ But as for me, I cry for help to you, O Yahweh,
and in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ Why do you reject my soul, O Yahweh?
Why do you hide your face from me?
¹⁵ I am afflicted and perishing from my youth.
I bear your terrors. I am distraught.^[l]
16 Your burning anger has passed over me;
your sudden fears have destroyed me.
¹⁷ They surround me like water all the day;
they circle about me altogether.
¹⁸ You have removed loved one and friend far from me,
my acquaintances far from my darkness.