1 A Song [or] Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day [and] night before thee: 2 Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; 3 For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. 4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man [that hath] no strength: 5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. 6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. 7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted [me] with all thy waves. Selah. 8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: [I am] shut up, and I cannot come forth. 9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee. 10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise [and] praise thee? Selah. 11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? [or] thy faithfulness in destruction? 12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. 14 LORD, why castest thou off my soul? [why] hidest thou thy face from me? 15 I [am] afflicted and ready to die from [my] youth up: [while] I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. 16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off. 17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together. 18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, [and] mine acquaintance into darkness.
Psalms · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
Psalm 88 King James Version (with Apocrypha)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (2)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
- Psalm titles are printed as the start of verse 1.
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People
Heman the Ezrahite
Named in the title of Psalm 88 as the author of its Maskil, a song also marked as a psalm of the sons of Korah. The text does not say whether he is Heman the wise man of 1 Kings…
Cited in the guide: Psalm 88:1
Cross references (18)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Isaiah 12:2; Psalm 22:2; Luke 18:7; Psalm 86:3; Genesis 49:18
- 2 Psalm 31:2; Psalm 141:1–2; Lamentations 3:8; Psalm 79:11; 1 Kings 8:31
- 3 Psalm 107:18; Lamentations 3:15–19; Mark 14:33–34; Psalm 69:17–21; Isaiah 53:3
- 4 Psalm 28:1; 2 Corinthians 1:9; Isaiah 38:17–18; Psalm 31:12; Psalm 143:7
- 5 Isaiah 53:8; Psalm 31:22; Isaiah 14:9–12; Psalm 136:23; Job 6:9
- 6 Psalm 69:15; Psalm 86:13; Psalm 40:2; Psalm 143:3; Lamentations 3:2
- 7 Psalm 42:7; 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 2:5–9; Job 6:4; John 3:36
- 8 Psalm 31:11; Isaiah 49:7; Job 30:10; Isaiah 63:3; Zechariah 11:8
- 9 Job 11:13; Psalm 86:3; Psalm 38:10; Psalm 143:6; Psalm 42:3
- 10 Isaiah 26:19; Psalm 6:5; Isaiah 38:18–19; Psalm 30:9; 1 Corinthians 15:52–57
- 11 Proverbs 15:11; Psalm 55:23; Matthew 7:13; Romans 9:22; Job 21:30
- 12 Ecclesiastes 9:5; Matthew 8:12; Job 10:21–22; Ecclesiastes 2:16; Isaiah 8:22
- 13 Psalm 5:3; Mark 1:35; Psalm 30:2; Psalm 119:147–148
- 14 Job 13:24; Psalm 13:1; Psalm 43:2; Psalm 44:24; Matthew 27:46
- 15 Job 6:4; Luke 22:44; Psalm 73:14; Job 7:11–16; Isaiah 53:10
- 16 Galatians 3:13; Revelation 6:17; Psalm 90:7; Psalm 89:46; Romans 8:32
- 17 Psalm 22:16; Psalm 69:1–2; Psalm 116:3; Job 30:14–15; Psalm 42:7
- 18 Psalm 88:8; Psalm 38:11; Job 19:12–15; Psalm 31:11
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
The Psalm which has just been sung is short, if we look to the number of its words, but of deep interest in its thoughts....The subject of song and praise in that Psalm is a city, whose citizens are we, as far as we are Christians: whence we are absent, as long as we are mortal: whither we are tending: …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)