Psalm 8816

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.

88:1 O Lord God who delivers me!1

By day I cry out

and at night I pray before you.2

88:2 Listen to my prayer!3

Pay attention4 to my cry for help!

88:3 For my life5 is filled with troubles

and I am ready to enter Sheol.6

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

I am like a helpless man,9

88:5 adrift10 among the dead,

like corpses lying in the grave,

whom you remember no more,

and who are cut off from your power.11

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

in the dark places, in the watery depths.

88:7 Your anger bears down on me,

and you overwhelm me with all your waves.

(Selah)

88:8 You 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

88:9 My 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

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

Do the departed spirits15 rise up and give you thanks?

(Selah)

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

or your faithfulness in the place of the dead?16

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

or your deliverance in the land of oblivion?19

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

in the morning my prayer confronts you.

88:14 O Lord, why do you reject me,

and pay no attention to me?20

88:15 I 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

88:16 Your anger overwhelms me;23

your terrors destroy me.

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

they join forces and encircle me.24

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

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