Psalms 88

¹A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the music director; according to Mahalath Leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. O Yahweh, God of my salvation, I cry out by day and through the night before you. ²Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry. ³For my soul is full with troubles, and my life approaches Sheol. ⁴I am reckoned with those descending to the pit. I am like a man without strength, ⁵set free among the dead, like the slain lying in the grave, whom you no longer remember, even those cut off from your hand. ⁶You have set me in the pit below, in dark places, in the depths. ⁷Your wrath presses upon me, and you afflict me with all your waves. Selah ⁸You have removed my acquaintances far from me. You have made me detestable to them. I am confined and cannot go out. ⁹My eye languishes from misery. I call on you, O Yahweh, every day; I spread out my hands to you. ¹⁰Do you work wonders for the dead? Or do the departed spirits rise up to praise you? Selah ¹¹Is your loyal love told in the grave, or your faithfulness in the underworld? ¹²Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? ¹³But as for me, I cry for help to you, O Yahweh, and in the morning my prayer comes before you. ¹⁴Why do you reject my soul, O Yahweh? Why do you hide your face from me? ¹⁵I am afflicted and perishing from my youth. I bear your terrors. I am distraught. ¹⁶Your burning anger has passed over me; your sudden fears have destroyed me. ¹⁷They surround me like water all the day; they circle about me altogether. ¹⁸You have removed loved one and friend far from me, my acquaintances far from my darkness.