Psalm 88

New International Reader's Version

For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth. A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

88 Lord, you are the God who saves me.
Day and night I cry out to you.
²Please hear my prayer.
Pay attention to my cry for help.

³I have so many troubles
    I’m about to die.
⁴People think my life is over.
    I’m like someone who doesn’t have any strength.
⁵People treat me as if I were dead.
    I’m like those who have been killed and are now in the grave.
You don’t even remember them anymore.
    They are cut off from your care.

⁶It’s as if you have put me deep down in the grave.
    It’s as if you have put me in that deep, dark place.
⁷Your great anger lies heavy on me.
    All the waves of your anger have crashed over me.
⁸You have taken my closest friends away from me.
    You have made me sickening to them.
I feel trapped and can’t escape.
⁹    I’m crying so much I can’t see very well.

Lord, I call out to you every day.
    I lift up my hands to you in prayer.
¹⁰Do you do wonderful things for those who are dead?
    Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
¹¹Do those who are dead speak about your love?
    Do those who are in the grave tell how faithful you are?
¹²Are your wonderful deeds known in that dark place?
    Are your holy acts known in that land where the dead are forgotten?

¹³Lord, I cry out to you for help.
In the morning I pray to you.
¹⁴Lord, why do you say no to me?
Why do you turn your face away from me?

¹⁵I’ve been in pain ever since I was young.
    I’ve been close to death.
You have made me suffer terrible things.
    I have lost all hope.
¹⁶Your great anger has swept over me.
    Your terrors have destroyed me.
¹⁷All day long they surround me like a flood.
    They have closed in all around me.
¹⁸You have taken my friends and neighbors away from me.
    Darkness is my closest friend.