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

Revelation 13

New International Version

The Beast out of the Sea

13 The dragon^[a] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.^(A) It had ten horns and seven heads,^(B) with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.^(C) ²The beast I saw resembled a leopard,^(D) but had feet like those of a bear^(E) and a mouth like that of a lion.^(F) The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.^(G) ³One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.^(H) The whole world was filled with wonder^(I) and followed the beast. ⁴People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like^(J) the beast? Who can wage war against it?”

⁵The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies^(K) and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.^(L) ⁶It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.^(M) ⁷It was given power to wage war^(N) against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.^(O) ⁸All inhabitants of the earth^(P) will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life,^(Q) the Lamb^(R) who was slain from the creation of the world.^[b]^(S)

⁹Whoever has ears, let them hear.^(T)

¹⁰“If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed^[c] with the sword,
with the sword they will be killed.”^[d]^(U)

This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness^(V) on the part of God’s people.^(W)

The Beast out of the Earth

¹¹Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth.^(X) It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.^(Y) ¹²It exercised all the authority^(Z) of the first beast on its behalf,^(AA) and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast,^(AB) whose fatal wound had been healed.^(AC) ¹³And it performed great signs,^(AD) even causing fire to come down from heaven^(AE) to the earth in full view of the people. ¹⁴Because of the signs^(AF) it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived^(AG) the inhabitants of the earth.^(AH) It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.^(AI) ¹⁵The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship^(AJ) the image to be killed.^(AK) ¹⁶It also forced all people, great and small,^(AL) rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,^(AM) ¹⁷so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark,^(AN) which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.^(AO)

¹⁸This calls for wisdom.^(AP) Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.^[e]^(AQ) That number is 666.

Footnotes

Revelation 13:1 Some manuscripts And I
Revelation 13:8 Or written from the creation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was slain
Revelation 13:10 Some manuscripts anyone kills
Revelation 13:10 Jer. 15:2
Revelation 13:18 Or is humanity’s number