Psalms 88
1 A Canticle Psalm to the sons of Korah. Unto the end. For Mahalath, to answer the understanding of Heman the Ezrahite. O Lord, God of my salvation: I have cried out, day and night, in your presence.
A Song [or] Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day [and] night before thee:
2 Let my prayer enter in your sight. Incline your ear to my petition.
Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;
For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. (Sheol h7585)
4 I am considered to be among those who will descend into the pit. I have become like a man without assistance,
I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man [that hath] no strength:
5 idle among the dead. I am like the wounded sleeping in sepulchers, whom you no longer remember, and who have been repelled by your hand.
Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
6 They have lain me in the lower pit: in dark places and in the shadow of death.
Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
7 Your fury has been confirmed over me. And you have brought all your waves upon me.
Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted [me] with all thy waves. (Selah)
8 You have sent my acquaintances far from me. They have set me as an abomination to themselves. I was handed over, yet I did not depart.
Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: [I am] shut up, and I cannot come forth.
9 My eyes languished before destitution. All day long, I cried out to you, O Lord. I stretched out my hands to you.
Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
10 Will you perform wonders for the dead? Or will physicians raise to life, and so confess to you?
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise [and] praise thee? (Selah)
11 Could anyone declare your mercy in the sepulcher, or your truth from within perdition?
Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? [or] thy faithfulness in destruction?
12 Will your wonders be known in the darkness, or your justice in the land of oblivion?
Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 And I have cried out to you, O Lord, and in early morning, my prayer will come before you.
But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
14 Lord, why do you reject my prayer? Why do you turn your face away from me?
LORD, why castest thou off my soul? [why] hidest thou thy face from me?
15 I am poor, and I have been amid hardships from my youth. And, though I have been exalted, I am humbled and disturbed.
I [am] afflicted and ready to die from [my] youth up: [while] I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
16 Your wrath has crossed into me, and your terrors have disturbed me.
Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
17 They have surrounded me like water, all day long. They have surrounded me, all at once.
They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
18 Friend and neighbor, and my acquaintances, you have sent far away from me, away from misery.
Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, [and] mine acquaintance into darkness.
