88 Lord, you are the God who rescues me.
I call out to you in the day,
    and I pray for help at night.
² Please listen to my prayer!
    I am calling to you for help!
³ There is a lot of trouble in my life.
    I feel that I am near to death.
⁴ People see me as if I am already in my grave.
    I feel completely helpless.
⁵ I am the same as people who have died.
    Their bodies already lie in their graves.
You do not remember them any more
    You cannot use your power to help them.
⁶ You have put me in the deep hole of death,
    far down in a very dark place.
⁷ Your anger is very heavy on me.
It is like the waves of the sea that knock me down.
⁸ You have caused my best friends
    to keep away from me.
They do not even want to look at me.
A trap has caught me
    and I cannot escape.
⁹ My eyes have become weak
    because I am so sad.
Lord, every day I call to you for help.
    I lift my hands up to you as I pray.
¹⁰ Your great miracles do not help dead people!
    Dead people cannot get up and praise you!
Selah.
¹¹ People in their graves
    cannot talk about your faithful love!
In the world of death,
    they cannot say how faithful you are.
¹² In those dark places,
    they do not see your miracles.
In that place where people forget everything,
    they cannot know about the good things that you do.
¹³ But as for me, Lord,
    I call to you for help.
Every morning I pray to you.
¹⁴ Lord, why do you throw me out?
    Why do you turn away from me?
¹⁵ Since I was young, I have been in pain.
    I have always been near to death.
You have caused bad troubles to frighten me,
    so that I feel helpless.
¹⁶ Your anger is too much for me!
    You are attacking me and destroying me!
¹⁷ The troubles that you send are all round me,
    like a flood of deep water.
They come very near to me,
    on every side.
¹⁸ You cause my friends and my neighbours
    to stay away from me.
All that I have near to me is darkness.