Psalms 88
1 O lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you:
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.
2 Let my prayer come before you: incline your ear unto my cry;
Let my prayer enter in your sight. Incline your ear to my petition.
For my soul has been filled with evils, and my life has drawn near to Hell. (Sheol h7585)
4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that has no strength:
I am considered to be among those who will descend into the pit. I have become like a man without assistance,
5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom you remember no more: and they are cut off from your hand.
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.
6 You have laid me in the low pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
They have lain me in the lower pit: in dark places and in the shadow of death.
7 Your wrath lies hard upon me, and you have afflicted me with all your waves. (Selah)
Your fury has been confirmed over me. And you have brought all your waves upon me.
8 You have put away mine acquaintance far from me; you have made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
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.
9 Mine eye mourns by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon you, I have stretched out my hands unto you.
My eyes languished before destitution. All day long, I cried out to you, O Lord. I stretched out my hands to you.
10 Will you show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise you? (Selah)
Will you perform wonders for the dead? Or will physicians raise to life, and so confess to you?
11 Shall your loving kindness be declared in the grave? or your faithfulness in destruction?
Could anyone declare your mercy in the sepulcher, or your truth from within perdition?
12 Shall your wonders be known in the dark? and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
Will your wonders be known in the darkness, or your justice in the land of oblivion?
13 But unto you have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent you.
And I have cried out to you, O Lord, and in early morning, my prayer will come before you.
14 LORD, why cast you off my soul? why hide you your face from me?
Lord, why do you reject my prayer? Why do you turn your face away from me?
15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer your terrors I am distracted.
I am poor, and I have been amid hardships from my youth. And, though I have been exalted, I am humbled and disturbed.
16 Your fierce wrath goes over me; your terrors have cut me off.
Your wrath has crossed into me, and your terrors have disturbed me.
17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
They have surrounded me like water, all day long. They have surrounded me, all at once.
18 Lover and friend have you put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.
Friend and neighbor, and my acquaintances, you have sent far away from me, away from misery.
