Psalm 87–88

God Loves Jerusalem

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

87The Lord built Jerusalem on the holy mountain.

²He loves its gates more than any other place in Israel.

³City of God,

wonderful things are said about you.Selah

⁴God says, “I will put Egypt and Babylonia

on the list of nations that know me.

People from Philistia, Tyre, and Cush

will be born there.”

⁵They will say about Jerusalem,

“This one and that one were born there.

God Most High will strengthen her.”

⁶The Lord will keep a list of the nations.

He will note, “This person was born there.”

Selah

⁷They will dance and sing,

“All good things come from Jerusalem.”

A Sad Complaint

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the director of music. By the mahalath leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

88Lord, you are the God who saves me.

I cry out to you day and night.

²Receive my prayer,

and listen to my cry.

³My life is full of troubles,

and I am nearly dead.

⁴They think I am on the way to my grave.

I am like a man with no strength.

⁵I have been left as dead,

like a body lying in a grave

whom you don’t remember anymore,

cut off from your care.

⁶You have brought me close to death;

I am almost in the dark place of the dead.

⁷You have been very angry with me;

all your waves crush me.Selah

⁸You have taken my friends away from me

and have made them hate me.

I am trapped and cannot escape.

⁹My eyes are weak from crying.

Lord, I have prayed to you every day;

I have lifted my hands in prayer to you.

¹⁰Do you show your miracles for the dead?

Do their spirits rise up and praise you?

Selah

¹¹Will your love be told in the grave?

Will your loyalty be told in the place of death?

¹²Will your miracles be known in the dark grave?

Will your goodness be known in the land of forgetfulness?

¹³But, Lord, I have called out to you for help;

every morning I pray to you.

¹⁴Lord, why do you reject me?

Why do you hide from me?

¹⁵I have been weak and dying since I was young.

I suffer from your terrors, and I am helpless.

¹⁶You have been angry with me,

and your terrors have destroyed me.

¹⁷They surround me daily like a flood;

they are all around me.

¹⁸You have taken away my loved ones and friends.

Darkness is my only friend.