Psalms 88:1-18

  • A prayer to be kept from death

    • “My life is on the brink of the Grave” (3)

    • ‘Each morning I pray to you’ (13)

A song. A melody of the sons of Korʹah.+ To the director; in the style of Maʹha·lath,* to be sung alternately. Masʹkil* of Heʹman+ the Ezʹra·hite. 88  O Jehovah, the God of my salvation,+By day I cry out,And by night I come before you.+   Let my prayer come to you,+Incline your ear* to my cry for help.+   For my soul* has been filled with calamity,+And my life is on the brink of the Grave.*+   I am already counted among those going down to the pit;*+I have become a helpless man,*+   Left among the deadLike the slain lying in a grave,Whom you remember no longerAnd who have been separated from your care.*   You have put me in the lowest pit,In dark places, in a large abyss.   Your rage weighs heavily on me,+And you overwhelm me with your crashing waves. (Selah)   You have driven my acquaintances far away from me;+You have made me something detestable to them. I am trapped and cannot escape.   My eye is worn out because of my affliction.+ I call on you, O Jehovah, all day long;+To you I spread out my hands. 10  Will you perform wonders for the dead? Can those powerless in death rise up to praise you?+ (Selah) 11  Will your loyal love be declared in the grave,Your faithfulness in the place of destruction?* 12  Will your wonders be known in the darknessOr your righteousness in the land of oblivion?+ 13  But I still cry to you for help, O Jehovah,+Each morning my prayer comes before you.+ 14  Why, O Jehovah, do you reject me?*+ Why do you hide your face from me?+ 15  From my youth on,I have been afflicted and ready to perish;+I am numb from the terrible things you allow me to suffer. 16  Your burning anger overwhelms me;+Your terrors destroy me. 17  They surround me like waters all day long;They close in on me from all sides.* 18  You have driven my friends and companions far away from me;+Darkness has become my companion.

Footnotes

Or “Bend down and listen.”
Or “Sheol,” that is, the common grave of mankind. See Glossary.
Or “like a man without strength.”
Or “grave.”
Lit., “hand.”
Or “in Abaddon.”
Or “my soul.”
Or possibly, “all at once.”