Psalm 88

I Cry Out Day and Night Before You

88A Song. A Psalm of ^zthe Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to ^aMahalath Leannoth. A Maskil¹ of ^bHeman the Ezrahite.

¹O Lord, ^cGod of my salvation,

I ^dcry out day and night before you.

²Let my prayer come before you;

^eincline your ear to my cry!

³For my soul is full of troubles,

and ^fmy life draws near to ^gSheol.

⁴I am counted among those who ^hgo down to the pit;

I am a man who has no strength,

⁵like one set loose among the dead,

like the slain that lie in the grave,

like those whom ⁱyou remember no more,

for they are ^jcut off from your hand.

⁶You have put me in ^kthe depths of the pit,

in the ^lregions dark and ^mdeep.

⁷Your wrath ⁿlies heavy upon me,

and you overwhelm me with ^oall your waves. Selah

⁸You have caused ^pmy companions to shun me;

you have made me ^qa horror² to them.

I am ^rshut in so that I cannot escape;

^9smy eye grows dim through sorrow.

Every day I call upon you, O Lord;

I ^tspread out my hands to you.

¹⁰Do you work wonders for the dead?

^uDo the departed rise up to praise you? Selah

¹¹Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,

or your faithfulness in Abaddon?

¹²Are your ^vwonders known in ^wthe darkness,

or your righteousness in the land of ^xforgetfulness?

¹³But I, O Lord, cry ^yto you;

^zin the morning my prayer comes before you.

¹⁴O Lord, why ^ado you cast my soul away?

Why ^bdo you hide your face from me?

¹⁵Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,

I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.³

¹⁶Your wrath has swept over me;

your ^cdreadful assaults destroy me.

¹⁷They ^dsurround me like a flood ^eall day long;

they ^fclose in on me together.

¹⁸You have caused ^gmy beloved and my friend to shun me;

my companions have become darkness.⁴