Psalms 88
88
Save Me from This Sorrow # 88 This psalm has traditionally been used by Christians for reading on Good Friday. Many insights can be found here of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
To the Pure and Shining One
A song, a psalm # 88 Psalm 88 is both a song and a psalm. The Hebrew for “song” can also mean “wall.” There are times that our purest music will come when we feel like we are up against a “wall.” by the prophetic singers of Korah’s clan
To the tune of “Pierced,” for instruction by Heman the Ezrahite # 88 Heman the Ezrahite was considered comparable to Solomon in his wisdom (1 Kings 4:31). Jewish literature states that he was also a gifted musician and vocalist. But it also teaches that Heman was a leper, an outcast from society who lived in poverty, was shunned by all, and could not sing in the temple because of his disease. Read Ps. 88 with this background in mind. To the tune of “Pierced” can also be translated “He has been humbled more than any man.” The Hebrew word for “instruction” (maschil) comes from a word that means “to prosper” or “to understand.”
1Yahweh is the God who continually saves me.
I weep before you night and day.
2Please bend down and listen to my sobbing,
for my life is riddled with troubles
and death is just around the corner!
3Everyone sees my life ebbing out.
They consider me a hopeless case and see me as a dead man.
4They’ve all left me here to die, helpless,
like one who is doomed for death.
5They’re convinced you’ve forsaken me,
certain that you’ve forgotten me completely—
abandoned, pierced, with nothing to look forward to but death.
6They have discarded me # 88:6 As translated from the Septuagint. The Hebrew reads “You have discarded me.” and thrown me down
into the deepest darkness as into a bottomless pit.
7I feel your wrath, and it’s a heavy weight upon me,
drowning me beneath a sea of sorrow.
Pause in his presence
8Why did you turn all my friends against me?
You’ve made me like a cursed man in their eyes.
No one wants to be with me now.
You’ve caught me in a trap with no way out.
9Every day I beg for your help. Can’t you see my tears?
My eyes are swollen with weeping.
My arms are wide, longing for mercy, # 88:9 As translated from the Septuagint. The Greek reads “My hands are stretched out to you.”
but you’re nowhere to be found.
10How can those who are cut off from your care
even know that you are there?
Do departed spirits # 88:10 Or “Rephaites.” The Rephaites were giants that inhabited the region of Bashan east of the Jordan. See Deut. 2:11; 3:11; Josh. 12:4–5. rise up to praise you?
Pause in his presence
11Who can give thanks for your love in the graveyard?
Who preaches your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
12Does death’s darkness declare your miracles?
How can anyone who’s in the grave, where all is forgotten,
remember how you keep your promises?
13Lord, you know my prayer before I even whisper it. # 88:13 As translated from the Septuagint.
At each and every sunrise you will
continue to hear my cry until you answer.
14O Lord, why have you thrown my life away?
Will you keep turning the other way every time I call out to you?
15I’ve had to live in poverty and trouble all my life. # 88:15 As translated from the Septuagint. The Greek reads “close to death all my life.”
Now I’m humiliated, broken, and helpless before your terrors
and I can’t take it anymore.
16I’m overwhelmed by your burning anger.
I’ve taken the worst you could give me,
and I’m speechless before you.
17I’m drowning beneath the waves of this sorrow,
cut off with no one to help.
18All my loved ones and friends keep far away from me,
leaving me all alone with only darkness as my friend.
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Psalms 88: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationPsalms 88
88
PSALM 88
A Song, a Psalm for the sons of Korah. To the chief Musician. Upon Mahalath Leannoth. An instruction. Of Heman the Ezrahite.
1Jehovah, God#GodHebrew: Elohim of my salvation, I have cried by day and in the night before thee. 2Let my prayer come before thee; incline thine ear unto my cry. 3For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh to Sheol. 4I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength: 5Prostrate among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave; whom thou rememberest no more, and who are cut off from thy hand. 6Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the deeps. 7Thy fury lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. 8Thou 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. 9Mine eye consumeth by reason of affliction. Upon thee, Jehovah, have I called every day; I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
10Wilt thou do wonders to the dead? shall the shades arise and praise thee? Selah. 11Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? thy faithfulness in Destruction? 12Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13But as for me, Jehovah, I cry unto thee, and in the morning my prayer cometh before thee. 14Why, O Jehovah, castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? 15I am afflicted and expiring from my youth up; I suffer thy terrors, and I am distracted. 16Thy fierce anger hath gone over me; thy terrors have brought me to nought: 17They have surrounded me all the day like water; they have compassed me about together. 18Lover and associate hast thou put far from me: my familiar friends are darkness.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.