A song, a psalm written by the Korahites; for the music director; according to the machalath-leannoth style;¹⁷ a well-written song¹⁸ by Heman the Ezrachite.

^88:1O Lord God who delivers me!¹

By day I cry out

and at night I pray before you.²

^88:2Listen to my prayer!³

Pay attention⁴ to my cry for help!

^88:3For my life⁵ is filled with troubles

and I am ready to enter Sheol.⁶

^88:4They treat me like⁷ those who descend into the grave.⁸

I am like a helpless man,⁹

^88:5adrift¹⁰ among the dead,

like corpses lying in the grave,

whom you remember no more,

and who are cut off from your power.¹¹

^88:6You place me in the lowest regions of the pit,¹²

in the dark places, in the watery depths.

^88:7Your anger bears down on me,

and you overwhelm me with all your waves.

(Selah)

^88:8You cause those who know me to keep their distance;

you make me an appalling sight to them.

I am trapped and cannot get free.¹³

^88:9My eyes grow weak because of oppression.

I call out to you, O Lord, all day long;

I spread out my hands in prayer to you.¹⁴

^88:10Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead?

Do the departed spirits¹⁵ rise up and give you thanks?

(Selah)

^88:11Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave,

or your faithfulness in the place of the dead?¹⁶

^88:12Are your amazing deeds experienced¹⁷ in the dark region,¹⁸

or your deliverance in the land of oblivion?¹⁹

^88:13As for me, I cry out to you, O Lord;

in the morning my prayer confronts you.

^88:14O Lord, why do you reject me,

and pay no attention to me?²⁰

^88:15I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth.²¹

I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain.²²

^88:16Your anger overwhelms me;²³

your terrors destroy me.

^88:17They surround me like water all day long;

they join forces and encircle me.²⁴

^88:18You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance;²⁵

those who know me leave me alone in the darkness.²⁶

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Footnotes

16 Psalm 88. The psalmist cries out in pain to the Lord, begging him for relief from his intense and constant suffering. The psalmist regards God as the ultimate cause of his distress, but nevertheless clings to God in hope.
17 The Hebrew phrase מָחֲלַת לְעַנּוֹת (makhalat lé’annot) may mean “illness to afflict.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. The term מָחֲלַת also appears in the superscription of Ps 53.
18 The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52–55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.
1 Heb “O Lord God of my deliverance.” In light of the content of the psalm, this reference to God as the one who delivers seems overly positive. For this reason some emend the text to אַלֹהַי שִׁוַּעְתִּי (’alohay shivva’tiy, “[O Lord] my God, I cry out”). See v. 13.
2 Heb “[by] day I cry out, in the night before you.”
3 Heb “may my prayer come before you.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s desire or prayer.
4 Heb “turn your ear.”
5 Or “my soul.”
6 Heb “and my life approaches Sheol.”
7 Heb “I am considered with.”
8 Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.
9 Heb “I am like a man [for whom] there is no help.”
10 Heb “set free.”
11 Heb “from your hand.”
12 The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See v. 4.
13 Heb “[I am] confined and I cannot go out.”
14 Heb “I spread out my hands to you.” Spreading out the hands toward God was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12–13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). The words “in prayer” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this.
15 Heb “Rephaim,” a term that refers to those who occupy the land of the dead (see Isa 14:9; 26:14, 19).
16 Heb “in Abaddon,” a name for Sheol. The noun is derived from a verbal root meaning “to perish,” “to die.”
17 Heb “known.”
18 Heb “darkness,” here a title for Sheol.
19 Heb “forgetfulness.” The noun, which occurs only here in the OT, is derived from a verbal root meaning “to forget.” The rhetorical questions in vv. 10–12 expect the answer, “Of course not!”
20 Heb “[why] do you hide your face from me?”
21 Heb “and am dying from youth.”
22 Heb “I carry your horrors [?].” The meaning of the Hebrew form אָפוּנָה (’afunah), which occurs only here in the OT, is unclear. It may be an adverb meaning “very much” ( 67 ), though some prefer to emend the text to אָפוּגָה (’afugah, “I am numb”) from the verb פוּג (pug; see Pss 38:8; 77:2).
23 Heb “passes over me.”
24 Heb “they encircle me together.”
25 Heb “you cause to be far from me friend and neighbor.”
26 Heb “those known by me, darkness.”