Psalm 88

The Message

88 ^1-9God, you’re my last chance of the day.
    I spend the night on my knees before you.
Put me on your salvation agenda;
    take notes on the trouble I’m in.
I’ve had my fill of trouble;
    I’m camped on the edge of hell.
I’m written off as a lost cause,
    one more statistic, a hopeless case.
Abandoned as already dead,
    one more body in a stack of corpses,
And not so much as a gravestone—
    I’m a black hole in oblivion.
You’ve dropped me into a bottomless pit,
    sunk me in a pitch-black abyss.
I’m battered senseless by your rage,
    relentlessly pounded by your waves of anger.
You turned my friends against me,
    made me horrible to them.
I’m caught in a maze and can’t find my way out,
    blinded by tears of pain and frustration.

^9-12I call to you, God; all day I call.
    I wring my hands, I plead for help.
Are the dead a live audience for your miracles?
    Do ghosts ever join the choirs that praise you?
Does your love make any difference in a graveyard?
    Is your faithful presence noticed in the corridors of hell?
Are your marvelous wonders ever seen in the dark,
    your righteous ways noticed in the Land of No Memory?

^13-18I’m standing my ground, God, shouting for help,
    at my prayers every morning, on my knees each daybreak.
Why, God, do you turn a deaf ear?
    Why do you make yourself scarce?
For as long as I remember I’ve been hurting;
    I’ve taken the worst you can hand out, and I’ve had it.
Your wildfire anger has blazed through my life;
    I’m bleeding, black-and-blue.
You’ve attacked me fiercely from every side,
    raining down blows till I’m nearly dead.
You made lover and neighbor alike dump me;
    the only friend I have left is Darkness.

Psalm 88

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Psalm 88

Prayer for Help in Despondency

A Song. A Psalm of the Korahites. To the leader: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

¹O Lord, God of my salvation,
at night, when I cry out before you,^(A)
²let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry.^(B)

³For my soul is full of troubles,
    and my life draws near to Sheol.^(C)
⁴I am counted among those who go down to the Pit;
    I am like those who have no help,^(D)
⁵like those forsaken among the dead,
    like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
    for they are cut off from your hand.^(E)
⁶You have put me in the depths of the Pit,
    in the regions dark and deep.^(F)
⁷Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
    and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah^(G)

⁸You have caused my companions to shun me;
    you have made me a thing of horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;^(H)
⁹    my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call on you, O Lord;
    I spread out my hands to you.^(I)
¹⁰Do you work wonders for the dead?
    Do the shades rise up to praise you? Selah^(J)
¹¹Is your steadfast love declared in the grave
    or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
¹²Are your wonders known in the darkness
    or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?^(K)

¹³But I, O Lord, cry out to you;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.^(L)
¹⁴O Lord, why do you cast me off?
    Why do you hide your face from me?^(M)
¹⁵Wretched and close to death from my youth up,
    I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.^[a]^(N)
¹⁶Your wrath has swept over me;
    your dread assaults destroy me.
¹⁷They surround me like a flood all day long;
    from all sides they close in on me.^(O)
¹⁸You have caused friend and neighbor to shun me;
    my companions are in darkness.^(P)

Footnotes

88.15 Meaning of Heb uncertain

The Message (MSG)

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

Psalm 88 The Message