Psalm 88
Common English Bible
Psalm 88
A song. A psalm of the Korahites. For the music leader. According to “Mahalath Leannoth.”[a] A maskil[b] of Heman the Ezrahite.
88 Lord, God of my salvation,
by day I cry out,
even at night, before you—
2 let my prayer reach you!
Turn your ear to my outcry
3 because my whole being[c] is filled with distress;
my life is at the very brink of hell.[d]
4 I am considered as one of those plummeting into the pit.
I am like those who are beyond help,
5 drifting among the dead,
lying in the grave, like dead bodies—
those you don’t remember anymore,
those who are cut off from your power.
6 You placed me down in the deepest pit,
in places dark and deep.
7 Your anger smothers me;
you subdue me with it, wave after wave. Selah
8 You’ve made my friends distant.
You’ve made me disgusting to them.
I can’t escape. I’m trapped!
9 My eyes are tired of looking at my suffering.
I’ve been calling out to you every day, Lord—
I’ve had my hands outstretched to you!
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do ghosts rise up and give you thanks? Selah
11 Is your faithful love proclaimed in the grave,
your faithfulness in the underworld?[e]
12 Are your wonders known in the land of darkness,
your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry out to you, Lord!
My prayer meets you first thing in the morning!
14 Why do you reject my very being, Lord?
Why do you hide your face from me?
15 Since I was young I’ve been afflicted, I’ve been dying.
I’ve endured your terrors. I’m lifeless.
16 Your fiery anger has overwhelmed me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
17 They surround me all day long like water;
they engulf me completely.
18 You’ve made my loved ones and companions distant.
My only friend is darkness.
Footnotes
- Psalm 88:1 Heb uncertain
- Psalm 88:1 Perhaps instruction
- Psalm 88:3 Or soul, also in 88:14
- Psalm 88:3 Heb Sheol
- Psalm 88:11 Heb Abaddon
Tehillim 88
Orthodox Jewish Bible
88 (Shir. Mizmor of the Bnei Korach. For the one directing. According to Machalat le‘annot. Maskil of Herman the Ezrachi.) Hashem Elohei Yeshuati (G-d of my salvation), I have cried out yom valailah before Thee.
2 (3) Let my tefillah come before Thee; incline Thine ear unto my cry;
3 (4) For my nefesh is full of troubles; and my life draweth near unto Sheol.
4 (5) I am counted with them that go down into the bor (pit); I am like a gever (man) that hath no strength;
5 (6) Forsaken among the mesim, like the slain that lie in the kever, whom Thou rememberest no more; and nigzaru (they are cut off, excluded; see Isa 53:8) from Thy Yad (hand, power, care).
6 (7) Thou hast laid me in the lowest bor (pit), in darkness, in the deeps.
7 (8) Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and Thou hast overwhelmed me with kol mishbarecha (all Thy waves, breakers). Selah.
8 (9) Thou hast estranged mine acquaintances far from me; Thou hast made me to’evot unto them; I am shut up, and I cannot escape.
9 (10) Mine eye groweth dim by reason of oni (affliction); Hashem, I have called daily upon Thee, I have stretched up my hands unto Thee.
10 (11) Wilt Thou show wonders to the mesim? Shall the lifeless arise and praise Thee? Selah.
11 (12) Shall Thy chesed be declared in the kever? Or Thy emunah in Avaddon?
12 (13) Shall Thy wonders be known in the choshech? And Thy tzedakah in the Eretz Neshiyyah (land of forgetfulness, oblivion)?
13 (14) But unto Thee have I cried, Hashem; and in the boker shall my tefillah come before Thee.
14 (15) Hashem, why castest Thou off my nefesh? Why hidest Thou Thy face from me?
15 (16) I am afflicted and govei’a (one being close to death) from my youth up; while I suffer Thy terrors I am distraught.
16 (17) Thy charon (fierce wrath) goeth over me; Thy terrors have flayed me.
17 (18) They came round about me daily like mayim; they close in, engulfing me.
18 (19) Ohev (lover) and re’a (companion) hast Thou estranged from me, and mine acquaintances are in darkness. [T.N. Ps 89 is a messianic Ps.]
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