Psalm 88

I Cry Out before You

A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choirmaster. According to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

¹O Yahweh, the God of my salvation,

day and night I cry out before You.

• PS 88:1[NOTE]HEMAN THE EZRAHITE. A wise man named Heman is in 1 Kings 4:31, and Heman the singer in 1 Chronicles 6:33. They may be the same man.
• PS 88:1[NOTE]MAHALATH LEANNOTH. Maybe a sad tune, about sickness or affliction. No one knows.

²May my prayer come before You;

incline Your ear to my cry.

³For my soul is full of troubles,

and my life draws near to Sheol.

⁴I am counted among those descending to the Pit.

I am like a man without strength.

⁵I am forsaken among the dead,

like the slain who lie in the grave,

whom You remember no more,

who are cut off from Your care.

⁶You have laid me in the lowest Pit,

in the darkest of the depths.

⁷Your wrath weighs heavily upon me;

all Your waves have submerged me.

Selah

⁸You have removed my friends from me;

You have made me repulsive to them;

I am confined and cannot escape.

• PS 88:8[PROPHECY]They stood at a distance and watched Him die → LK 23:49MEDIUM

⁹My eyes grow dim with grief.

I call to You daily, O Yahweh;

I spread out my hands to You.

¹⁰Do You work wonders for the dead?

Do departed spirits rise up to praise You?

Selah

¹¹Can Your loving devotion be proclaimed in the grave,

Your faithfulness in Abaddon?

¹²Will Your wonders be known in the darkness,

or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

¹³But to You, O Yahweh, I cry for help;

in the morning my prayer comes before You.

¹⁴Why, O Yahweh, do You reject me?

Why do You hide Your face from me?

¹⁵From my youth I was afflicted and near death.

I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.

¹⁶Your wrath has swept over me;

Your terrors have destroyed me.

¹⁷All day long they engulf me like water;

they enclose me on every side.

¹⁸You have removed my beloved and my friend;

darkness is my closest companion.

• PS 88:18[NOTE]NO HAPPY ENDING. Many call this the only psalm that ends in darkness. It is in the Bible too. God can handle your honest prayers.