A song, a psalm written by the Korahites; for the music director; according to the machalath-leannoth style; 2 a well-written song 3 by Heman the Ezrachite.
88:1 O Lord God who delivers me! 4
By day I cry out
and at night I pray before you. 5
88:2 Listen to my prayer! 6
Pay attention 7 to my cry for help!
88:3 For my life 8 is filled with troubles
and I am ready to enter Sheol. 9
88:4 They treat me like 10 those who descend into the grave. 11
I am like a helpless man, 12
88:5 adrift 13 among the dead,
like corpses lying in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
and who are cut off from your power. 14
88:6 You place me in the lowest regions of the pit, 15
in the dark places, in the watery depths.
88:7 Your anger bears down on me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. (Selah)
88:14 O Lord, why do you reject me,
and pay no attention to me? 16
88:15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth. 17
I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain. 18
88:16 Your anger overwhelms me; 19
your terrors destroy me.
1 sn Psalm 88. The psalmist cries out in pain to the Lord, begging him for relief from his intense and constant suffering. The psalmist regards God as the ultimate cause of his distress, but nevertheless clings to God in hope.
2 tn The Hebrew phrase מָחֲלַת לְעַנּוֹת (makhalat lÿ’annot) may mean “illness to afflict.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. The term מָחֲלַת also appears in the superscription of Ps 53.
3 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.
4 tn Heb “O
5 tn Heb “[by] day I cry out, in the night before you.”
6 tn Heb “may my prayer come before you.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s desire or prayer.
7 tn Heb “turn your ear.”
8 tn Or “my soul.”
9 tn Heb “and my life approaches Sheol.”
10 tn Heb “I am considered with.”
11 tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.
12 tn Heb “I am like a man [for whom] there is no help.”
13 tn Heb “set free.”
14 tn Heb “from your hand.”
15 tn The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See v. 4.
16 tn Heb “[why] do you hide your face from me?”
17 tn Heb “and am dying from youth.”
18 tn Heb “I carry your horrors [?].” The meaning of the Hebrew form אָפוּנָה (’afunah), which occurs only here in the OT, is unclear. It may be an adverb meaning “very much” (BDB 67 s.v.), though some prefer to emend the text to אָפוּגָה (’afugah, “I am numb”) from the verb פוּג (pug; see Pss 38:8; 77:2).
19 tn Heb “passes over me.”