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88:1 {A Song, a Psalm for the sons of Korah. To the chief Musician. Upon Mahalath Leannoth. An instruction. Of Heman the Ezrahite.} Jehovah, God of my salvation, I have cried by day [and] in the night before thee. 88:2 Let my prayer come before thee; incline thine ear unto my cry. 88:3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh to Sheol. 88:4 I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength: 88:5 Prostrate among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave; whom thou rememberest no more, and who are cut off from thy hand. 88:6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the deeps. 88:7 Thy fury lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted [me] with all thy waves. Selah. 88:8 Thou hast put my familiar friends far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. 88:9 Mine eye consumeth by reason of affliction. Upon thee, Jehovah, have I called every day; I have stretched out my hands unto thee. 88:10 Wilt thou do wonders to the dead? shall the shades arise and praise thee? Selah. 88:11 Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? thy faithfulness in Destruction? 88:12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 88:13 But as for me, Jehovah, I cry unto thee, and in the morning my prayer cometh before thee. 88:14 Why, O Jehovah, castest thou off my soul? [why] hidest thou thy face from me? 88:15 I am afflicted and expiring from my youth up; I suffer thy terrors, [and] I am distracted. 88:16 Thy fierce anger hath gone over me; thy terrors have brought me to nought: 88:17 They have surrounded me all the day like water; they have compassed me about together. 88:18 Lover and associate hast thou put far from me: my familiar friends are darkness. 88:19 {An instruction. Of Ethan the Ezrahite.} I will sing of the loving-kindness of Jehovah for ever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness from generation to generation.