Psalms Chapter 88

For the Choir Director. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

A Song. Set to Mahalath Leannoth

A Maskil of Herman the Ezrahite

¹ Yahveh God who keeps me safe,

      I call out to you day and night.

² Let my prayer come to you;

      listen to my call!

³ I’ve had so much trouble;

      I’m close to Sheol.

⁴ I’m as good as dead,

      like someone with no strength left.

⁵ Abandoned among the dead

      like someone slain in the grave,

      I’m forgotten and cut off from you.

⁶ You’ve put me in the Pit,                                                     

      in regions dark and deep.

⁷ Your anger overwhelms me;

      wave after wave weighs heavily on me.                          

⁸ You’ve made my friends avoid me

      by making me someone they detest;

      I’m trapped and can’t escape.

⁹ My sight is blurry from tears;

      I call on you every day, Yahveh,

      and reach out to you for help.                                          

Ps 88:1-9

¹⁰ Do you perform wonders for the dead?

      Do departed spirits rise and praise you?                          

¹¹ Do they declare your enduring love in the grave

      or your faithfulness in the place of destruction?

¹² Are your wonders known in the dark

      or your goodness in the land of forgetfulness?

Ps 88:10-12

¹³ Yahveh, I call out to you for help;                                     

      in the mornings my prayers go up to you.

¹⁴ Why are you rejecting me?

      Why are you hiding from me?

¹⁵ I’ve been attacked and close to death from my youth up;

      I suffer from the terrors you bring; I’m overwhelmed.

¹⁶ Your furious anger has swept over me;

      your dreaded assaults have destroyed me.

¹⁷ They surround me like water all the time

      and engulf me completely.

¹⁸ You’ve removed lover and friend far from me;

      my companions lie in darkness.                                      

Ps 88:13-18