| 1 | O Lord, the God of my salvation, I have cried to You for help by day; at night I am in Your presence. |
| 2 | Let my prayer come before You
and
really enter into Your presence; incline Your ear to my cry! |
| 3 | For I am full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol (the place of the dead). |
| 4 | I am counted among those who go down into the pit (the grave); I am like a man who has no help
or
strength [a mere shadow], |
| 5 | Cast away among the dead, like the slain that lie in a [nameless] grave, whom You [seriously] remember no more, and they are cut off from Your hand. |
| 6 | You have laid me in the depths of the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. |
| 7 | Your wrath lies hard upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves.
Selah
[pause, and calmly think of that]! |
| 8 | You have put my [familiar] friends far from me; You have made me an abomination to them. I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. |
| 9 | My eye grows dim because of sorrow
and
affliction. Lord, I have called daily on You; I have spread forth my hands to You. |
| 10 | Will You show wonders to the dead? Shall the departed arise and praise You?
Selah
[pause, and calmly think of that]! |
| 11 | Shall Your steadfast love be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in Abaddon (Sheol, as a place of ruin and destruction)? |
| 12 | Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the place of forgetfulness [where the dead forget and are forgotten]? |
| 13 | But to You I cry, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer come to meet You. |
| 14 | Lord, why do You cast me off? Why do You hide Your face from me? |
| 15 | I was afflicted and close to death from my youth up; while I suffer Your terrors I am distracted [I faint]. |
| 16 | Your fierce wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me. |
| 17 | They surround me like a flood all day long; together they have closed in upon me. |
| 18 | Lover and friend have You put far from me; my familiar friends are darkness
and
the grave. |
Cross references:
-
Psalm 88:1 : Luke 18:7.
-
Psalm 88:7 : Ps. 42:7.
-
Psalm 88:14 : Matt. 27:46.
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