Psalms 88
1 [A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. For the Chief Musician. To the tune of "The Suffering of Affliction." A contemplation by Heman, the Ezrahite.] YHWH, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you.
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 enter into your presence. Turn your ear to 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 among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help,
Because I have no more strength, [other people also] consider that I will soon die.
5 set apart among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your 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 You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.
[It is as though] you have thrown me into a deep, dark pit, into a place where they throw corpses.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your 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 You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can't escape.
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 My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, YHWH. I have spread out my hands to you.
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 Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the dead rise up and praise you? (Selah)
You certainly do not [RHQ] perform miracles for dead people! Their spirits do not [RHQ] arise to praise you!
11 Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your 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 Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your 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 to you, YHWH, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you.
But [as for me], Yahweh, I cry out to you [to help me]; each morning I pray to you.
14 YHWH, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your 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 your 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 Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your 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 around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me.
[I feel as though] they surround me like a flood [SIM]; they are (closing in on/crushing) me from all sides.
18 You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends 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.
