Psalms88
New International Version
1 Lord, you are the God who saves me; day and night I cry out to you.
2 May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry.
3 I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like one without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
8 You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them. I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief. I call to you, Lord, every day; I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
11 Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry to you for help, Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?
15 From my youth I have suffered and been close to death; I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken from me friend and neighbor— darkness is my closest friend.
Study
Psalms 88Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Psalms 88. The full AI study guide (summary, themes, context) has its own page.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The psalmist pours out his soul to God in lamentation. (1–9). He wrestles by faith, in his prayer to God for comfort. (10–18).
vv1-9
The first words of the psalmist are the only words of comfort and support in this psalm. Thus greatly may good men be afflicted, and such dismal thoughts may they have about their afflictions, and such dark conclusion may they make about their end, through the power of melancholy and the weakness of faith. He complained most of God's displeasure. Even the children of God's love may sometimes think themselves children of wrath and no outward trouble can be so hard upon them as that. Probably the psalmist described his own case, yet he leads to Christ. Thus are we called to look unto Jesus, wounded and bruised for our iniquities. But the wrath of God poured the greatest bitterness into his cup. This weighed him down into darkness and the deep.
vv10-18
Departed souls may declare God's faithfulness, justice, and lovingkindness; but deceased bodies can neither receive God's favours in comfort, nor return them in praise. The psalmist resolved to continue in prayer, and the more so, because deliverance did not come speedily. Though our prayers are not soon answered, yet we must not give over praying. The greater our troubles, the more earnest and serious we should be in prayer. Nothing grieves a child of God so much as losing sight of him; nor is there any thing he so much dreads as God's casting off his soul. If the sun be clouded, that darkens the earth; but if the sun should leave the earth, what a dungeon would it be! Even those designed for God's favours, may for a time suffer his terrors. See how deep those terrors wounded the psalmist. If friends are put far from us by providences, or death, we have reason to look upon it as affliction. Such was the calamitous state of a good man. But the pleas here used were peculiarly suited to Christ. And we are not to think that the holy Jesus suffered for us only at Gethsemane and on Calvary. His whole life was labour and sorrow; he was afflicted as never man was, from his youth up. He was prepared for that death of which he tasted through life. No man could share in the sufferings by which other men were to be redeemed. All forsook him, and fled. Oftentimes, blessed Jesus, do we forsake thee; but do not forsake us, O take not thy Holy Spirit from us.
Key Words
שִׁיר: a song; abstractly, singing
מִזְמוֹר: properly, instrumental music; by implication, a poem set to notes
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
קֹרַח: Korach, the name of two Edomites and three Israelites
נָצַח: properly, to glitter from afar, i.e. to be eminent (as a superintendent, especially of the Temple services and its music); to be permanent
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
מַחֲלַת: 'Machalath', probably the title (initial word) of a popular song
עָנָה: to depress literally or figuratively, transitive or intransitive (in various applications, as follows)
מַשְׂכִּיל: instructive, i.e. a didactic poem
הֵימָן: Heman, the name of at least two Israelites
Cross References
Psalms 88Identifies Heman the Ezrahite, the author in the title, noted for his wisdom.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Traces Heman's lineage as a singer of the family of Kohath.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Direct parallel to the 'lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps' as the land of shadow.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallels the metaphor of being afflicted with all of God's waves/billows.
Supported by JFB
Parallel regarding being cut off from sympathy and made an abomination to acquaintance.
Supported by JFB
Parallels the rhetorical argument that the dead cannot declare God's praise.
Supported by JFB
Directly links God's wrath and arrow-like terrors pressing down on the speaker.
Supported by JFB
Parallels crying out day and night to a silent God.
Supported by JFB
Christ's soul being 'exceeding sorrowful' matches the deep mental anguish of Heman.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Typological link to the Messiah as a 'man of sorrows' acquainted with grief.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallels being counted with them that go down into the pit of destruction.
Supported by JFB
Graphic parallel of a sufferer whose brethren and familiar friends are wholly estranged.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallels the decay and consumption of the eye due to grief.
Supported by JFB
Expresses identical sentiments of a life drawing near to the ready graves.
Parallels the experience of being cast into the deep, with billows passing over.
Echoes that the dead praise not the Lord, nor any that go down into silence.
Direct parallel: the grave cannot praise God; death cannot celebrate His faithfulness.
Illuminates 'in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee' by rising early.
Echoes the terror of God's poisons and arrows drinking up the spirit.
The abandonment of Christ by His disciples, fulfilling the isolation of the sufferer.
Supported by Matthew Henry