Psalms 88

NEW JERUSALEM	Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
1 [Song Psalm Of the sons of Korah In sickness In suffering Poem For Heman the native-born] Yahweh,God of my salvation, when I cry out to you in the night,	1 A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD, my God, I call for help by day; I cry out in the night before thee.
2 may my prayer reach your presence, hear my cry for help.	2 Let my prayer come before thee, incline thy ear to my cry!
3 For I am fil ed with misery, my life is on the brink of Sheol;	3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
4 already numbered among those who sink into oblivion, I am as one bereft of strength,	4 I am reckoned among those who go down to the Pit; I am a man who has no strength,
5 left alone among the dead, like the slaughtered lying in the grave, whom you remember no more, cutoff as they are from your protection.	5 like one forsaken among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom thou dost remember no more, for they are cut off from thy hand.
6 You have plunged me to the bottom of the grave, in the darkness, in the depths;	6 Thou hast put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark and deep.
7 weighted down by your anger, kept low by your waves.Pause	7 Thy wrath lies heavy upon me, and thou dost overwhelm me with all thy waves. [Selah]
8 You have deprived me of my friends, made me repulsive to them, imprisoned, with no escape;	8 Thou hast caused my companions to shun me; thou hast made me a thing of horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9 my eyes are worn out with suffering. I call to you, Yahweh, al day, I stretch out my hands to you.	9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon thee, O LORD; I spread out my hands to thee.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead, can shadows rise up to praise you?Pause	10 Dost thou work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise thee? [Selah]
11 Do they speak in the grave of your faithful love, of your constancy in the place of perdition?	11 Is thy steadfast love declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness, your saving justice in the land of oblivion?	12 Are thy wonders known in the darkness, or thy saving help in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But, for my part, I cry to you, Yahweh, every morning my prayer comes before you;	13 But I, O LORD, cry to thee; in the morning my prayer comes before thee.
14 why, Yahweh, do you rebuff me, turn your face away from me?	14 O LORD, why dost thou cast me off? Why dost thou hide thy face from me?
15 Wretched and close to death since childhood, I have borne your terrors -- I am finished!	15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer thy terrors; I am helpless.
16 Your anger has overwhelmed me, your terrors annihilated me.	16 Thy wrath has swept over me; thy dread assaults destroy me.
17 They flood around me al day long, close in on me al at once.	17 They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in upon me together.
18 You have deprived me of friends and companions, and al that I know is the dark.	18 Thou hast caused lover and friend to shun me; my companions are in darkness.