Psalms 88

¹ A song; a psalm of the Korahites. For the leader; according to Mahalath. For singing; a maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

² LORD, my God, I call out by day; at night I cry aloud in your presence.

³ Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.

⁴ For my soul is filled with troubles; my life draws near to Sheol.

⁵ I am reckoned with those who go down to the pit; I am weak, without strength.

⁶ My couch is among the dead, with the slain who lie in the grave. You remember them no more; they are cut off from your care.

⁷ You plunged me into the bottom of the pit, into the darkness of the abyss.

⁸ Your wrath lies heavy upon me; all your waves crash over me. Selah

⁹ Because of you my friends shun me; you make me loathsome to them; Caged in, I cannot escape;

¹⁰ my eyes grow dim from trouble. All day I call on you, LORD; I stretch out my hands to you.

¹¹ Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades arise and praise you? Selah

¹² Is your love proclaimed in the grave, your fidelity in the tomb?

¹³ Are your marvels declared in the darkness, your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

¹⁴ But I cry out to you, LORD; in the morning my prayer comes before you.

¹⁵ Why do you reject me, LORD? Why hide your face from me?

¹⁶ I am mortally afflicted since youth; lifeless, I suffer your terrible blows.

¹⁷ Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have reduced me to silence.

¹⁸ All the day they surge round like a flood; from every side they close in on me.

¹⁹ Because of you companions shun me; my only friend is darkness.