Psalm 88
88
I Cry Out Day and Night Before You
A Song. A Psalm of #Ps. 42, title the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to #Ps. 53, title Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil#88:1 Probably musical or liturgical terms of #1 Kgs. 4:31; 1 Chr. 2:6Heman the Ezrahite.
1O Lord, #See Ps. 24:5 God of my salvation,
I #Ps. 22:2; Luke 18:7cry out day and night before you.
2Let my prayer come before you;
# See Ps. 31:2 incline your ear to my cry!
3For my soul is full of troubles,
and #[Ps. 107:18] my life draws near to #See Ps. 16:10Sheol.
4I am counted among those who #See Ps. 28:1go down to the pit;
I am a man who has no strength,
5like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom #[Ps. 31:12] you remember no more,
for they are #Isa. 53:8cut off from your hand.
6You have put me in #[Ps. 63:9] the depths of the pit,
in the #ver. 12, 18; Ps. 143:3; Lam. 3:6 regions dark and #Ps. 69:15deep.
7Your wrath #[Ps. 32:4] lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with #Ps. 42:7all your waves. Selah
8You have caused #ver. 18; Ps. 142:4; See Job 19:13 my companions to shun me;
you have made me #Job 30:10 a horror#88:8 Or an abomination to them.
I am #Jer. 32:2shut in so that I cannot escape;
9 # [Ps. 6:7] my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O Lord;
I #See Job 11:13spread out my hands to you.
10Do you work wonders for the dead?
# [Ps. 6:5] Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
11Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12Are your #Ps. 89:5 wonders known in #ver. 6; Job 10:21 the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of #[Eccles. 9:5]forgetfulness?
13But I, O Lord, cry #Ps. 30:2 to you;
# See Ps. 5:3 in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14O Lord, why #See Ps. 44:9 do you cast my soul away?
Why #See Job 13:24do you hide your face from me?
15Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.#88:15 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
16Your wrath has swept over me;
your #Job 6:4; 9:34dreadful assaults destroy me.
17They #See Ps. 118:10-12 surround me like a flood #Ps. 86:3 all day long;
they #Ps. 18:4; 22:16; [Ps. 118:10]close in on me together.
18You have caused #See Job 19:13, 14my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.#88:18 Or darkness has become my only companion
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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Psalms 88
88
PSALM 88.
1Of understanding, for Ethan the Ezrahite.
2The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation.
3For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them.
4I have made a covenant with my elect: I have sworn to David my servant:
5Thy seed will I settle for ever. And I will build up thy throne unto generation and generation.
6The heavens shall confess thy wonders, O Lord: and thy truth in the church of the saints.
7For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord: or who among the sons of God shall be like to God?
8God, who is glorified in the assembly of the saints: great and terrible above all them that are about him.
9O Lord God of hosts, who is like to thee? thou art mighty, O Lord, and thy truth is round about thee.
10Thou rulest the power of the sea: and appeasest the motion of the waves thereof.
11Thou hast humbled the proud one, as one that is slain: with the arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thy enemies.
12Thine are the heavens, and thine is the earth: the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded:
13the north and the sea thou hast created. Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name:
14thy arm is with might. Let thy hand be strengthened, and thy right hand exalted:
15justice and judgment are the preparation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face:
16blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance:
17and in thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in thy justice they shall be exalted.
18For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy good pleasure shall our horn be exalted.
19For our protection is of the Lord, and of our king the holy one of Israel.
20Then thou spokest in a vision to thy saints, and saidst: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of my people.
21I have found David my servant: with my holy oil I have anointed him.
22For my hand shall help him: and my arm shall strengthen him.
23The enemy shall have no advantage over him: nor the son of iniquity have power to hurt him.
24And I will cut down his enemies before his face; and them that hate him I will put to flight.
25And my truth and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
26And I will set his hand in the sea; and his right hand in the rivers.
27He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God, and the support of my salvation.
28And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.
29I will keep my mercy for him for ever: and my covenant faithful to him.
30And I will make his seed to endure for evermore: and his throne as the days of heaven.
31And if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments:
32If they profane my justices: and keep not my commandments:
33I will visit their iniquities with a rod: and their sins with stripes.
34But my mercy I will not take away from him: nor will I suffer my truth to fail.
35Neither will I profane my covenant: and the words that proceed from my mouth I will not make void.
36Once have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David:
37his seed shall endure for ever.
38And his throne as the sun before me: and as the moon perfect for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven.
39But thou hast rejected and despised: thou hast been angry with thy anointed.
40Thou hast overthrown the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his sanctuary on the earth.
41Thou hast broken down all his hedges: thou hast made his strength fear.
42All that pass by the way have robbed him: he is become a reproach to his neighbours.
43Thou hast set up the right hand of them that oppress him: thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
44Thou hast turned away the help of his sword; and hast not assisted him in battle.
45Thou hast made his purification to cease: and thou hast cast his throne down to the ground.
46Thou hast shortened the days of his time: thou hast covered him with confusion.
47How long, O Lord, turnest thou away unto the end? shall thy anger burn like fire?
48Remember what my substance is for hast thou made all the children of men in vain?
49Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall deliver his soul from the hand of hell?
50Lord, where are thy ancient mercies, according to what thou didst swear to David in thy truth?
51Be mindful, O Lord, of the reproach of thy servants (which I have held in my bosom) of many nations:
52Wherewith thy enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the change of thy anointed.
53Blessed be the Lord for evermore. So be it. So be it.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.