1 A song, a psalm, for the sons of Korah. To the chief musician upon Mahalath and Leannoth; an instruction of Heman the Ezrahite.
2 O Jehovah, God of my salvation, [by] day have I cried, and in the night before thee.
3 Let my prayer come before thee; incline thine ear to my cry.
4 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh to Sheol.
5 I am counted with those that descend to the pit, I am as a man without strength:
6 Among the dead free, as the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more, and they are cut off from thy hand.
7 Thou hast laid me in the pit of abysses, in dark places, in depths.
8 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted [me] with all thy breakers. Selah.
9 Thou hast put mine acquaintance far from me, thou hast made me abomination to them: [I am] shut up and cannot come forth.
10 Mine eye wasteth because of mine affliction. I have called on thee, O Jehovah, every day, I have stretched out my hands toward thee.
11 Wilt thou do a wonder to the dead? shall shades (Rephaim) arise? shall they praise thee? Selah.
12 Shall thy mercy be declared in the grave? thy faithfulness in destruction (Abaddon)?
13 Shall thy wonders be known in the darkness, and thy righteousness in a land of forgetfulness?
14 But for me, I cry unto thee, O Jehovah, and in the morning my prayer cometh before thee.
15 Why, O Jehovah, dolt thou cast off my soul? Hidest thou thy face from me?
16 Poor [am] I and expiring from youth; I have borne thy terror; I am distracted.
17 Thy fierce angers have come over me; thy terrors have cut me off,
18 They have surrounded me like the water all the day, and they have closed in upon me together.
19 Thou hast put far from me lover and associate; mine acquaintances [are] darkness.
Notes on Psalm 88
This too is “A song, a psalm, for the sons of Korah. To the chief musician, upon Mahalath, and Leannoth, an instruction, of Heman the Ezrahite.” Where can we find such a strain of profound sorrow and sense of wrath with no glimmer of light beyond the opening words? Israel to be blessed must pass through this, and have Christ’s Spirit and sympathy with them in it. What could law do for those under it but press its terrors unto death? His Spirit felt it in grace