The ropes of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.(A)
I called to the Lord in my distress,
and I cried to my God for help.
From His temple He heard my voice,(B)
and my cry to Him reached His ears.(C)

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The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.

In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

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13 For Your faithful love for me is great,
and You deliver my life from the depths of Sheol.(A)

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13 For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

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Psalm 88

A Cry of Desperation

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.(A)

Lord, God of my salvation,
I cry out before You day and night.(B)
May my prayer reach Your presence;
listen to my cry.(C)

For I have had enough troubles,
and my life is near Sheol.(D)
I am counted among those going down to the Pit.(E)
I am like a man without strength,(F)
abandoned[a] among the dead.
I am like the slain lying in the grave,(G)
whom You no longer remember,
and who are cut off from Your care.[b](H)

You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit,
in the darkest places, in the depths.(I)
Your wrath weighs heavily on me;(J)
You have overwhelmed me with all Your waves.(K)Selah

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 88:5 Or set free
  2. Psalm 88:5 Or hand

88 O lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:

Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;

For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.

I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:

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.

Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.

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15 For you said, “We have cut a deal with Death,
and we have made an agreement with Sheol;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,(A)
it will not touch us,
because we have made falsehood our refuge
and have hidden behind treachery.”

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15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

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18 For Sheol cannot thank You;
Death cannot praise You.(A)
Those who go down to the Pit
cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

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18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

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