Psalms 88
1 O Yhwh God of my salvation, I have cried day and 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]!
I have experienced many troubles/difficulties, and I am about to die [MTY] and go where dead people are. (Sheol h7585)
4 I am counted 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 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.
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 darkness, 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 wrath 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 away mine acquaintance 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 mourneth by reason of affliction: Yhwh, I have called daily upon thee, 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 shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead 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 lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or 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 unto thee have I cried, O Yhwh; and in the morning shall my prayer come before thee.
But [as for me], Yahweh, I cry out to you [to help me]; each morning I pray to you.
14 Yhwh, why 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 ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors 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 wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
[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 came round about me daily like water; they 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 friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into 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.
