< Psalms 88 >
1 A Song, a Psalm for the sons of Korah. To the chief Musician. Upon Mahalath Leannoth. An instruction. Of Heman the Ezrahite. Jehovah, God of my salvation, I have cried by day [and] in the night before thee.
Yahweh God, you who rescues me, all during each day I call out [to you] to help me, and I cry out to you during each night also.
2 Let my prayer come before thee; incline thine ear unto my cry.
Listen [IDM] to my prayer [DOU], while I cry out to you [for help]!
3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh to Sheol. (Sheol )
I have experienced many troubles/difficulties, and I am about to die [MTY] and go where dead people are. (Sheol )
4 I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength:
Because I have no more strength, [other people also] consider that I will soon die.
5 Prostrate among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave; whom thou rememberest no more, and who are cut off from thy hand.
I am like a corpse that has been abandoned; I am like dead people who lie in their graves, people who have been completely forgotten, because you do not take care of them any more.
6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the deeps.
[It is as though] you have thrown me into a deep, dark pit, into a place where they throw corpses.
7 Thy fury lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted [me] with all thy waves. (Selah)
[It seems like] you are very angry with me, and [it is as though] you have crushed me like [ocean] waves [crash down on people] [MET].
8 Thou hast put my familiar friends far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
You have caused my friends to (avoid/stay away from) me; I have become repulsive to them. [It is as though] I am in a prison and cannot escape.
9 Mine eye consumeth by reason of affliction. Upon thee, Jehovah, have I called every day; I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
My eyes cannot see well because I cry very much. Yahweh, every day I call out to you [to help me]; I lift up my hands to you [while I pray].
10 Wilt thou do wonders to the dead? shall the shades arise and praise thee? (Selah)
You certainly do not [RHQ] perform miracles for dead people! Their spirits do not [RHQ] arise to praise you!
11 Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? thy faithfulness in Destruction?
Corpses in the grave certainly do not tell about your faithfully loving us [RHQ], and in the place where people are finally destroyed, no one tells about what you faithfully [do for us] [RHQ].
12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
No one in the deep dark pit ever sees the miracles that you perform [RHQ], and no one in the place where people have been completely forgotten tells about your being good to us.
13 But as for me, Jehovah, I cry unto thee, and in the morning my prayer cometh before thee.
But [as for me], Yahweh, I cry out to you [to help me]; each morning I pray to you.
14 Why, O Jehovah, castest thou off my soul? [why] hidest thou thy face from me?
Yahweh, why do you reject me [RHQ]? Why do you turn away from me [RHQ]?
15 I am afflicted and expiring from my youth up; I suffer thy terrors, [and] I am distracted.
All the time since I was young, I have suffered and have often almost died; I am (in despair/very discouraged) because of enduring the terrible things that you have done to me.
16 Thy fierce anger hath gone over me; thy terrors have brought me to nought:
[I feel that] you have crushed me because of your being angry with me; the terrible things that you are doing to me are almost destroying me.
17 They have surrounded me all the day like water; they have compassed me about together.
[I feel as though] they surround me like a flood [SIM]; they are (closing in on/crushing) me from all sides.
18 Lover and associate hast thou put far from me: my familiar friends are darkness.
You have caused [even] my friends and others whom I love to avoid me, and [it is as though] the only friend that I have is darkness.