A Prayer to Be Saved from Death

88 O Lord, the God Who saves me, I have cried out before You day and night. ² Let my prayer come to You. Listen to my cry. ³ For my soul is filled with troubles. And my life comes near the grave. ⁴ I am added among those who go down into the deep hole. I am like a man without strength. ⁵ I am left among the dead, like those who have been killed and lie in the grave, whom You remember no more. They are cut off from Your help. ⁶ You have put me in the deepest hole, in a dark and deep place. ⁷ Your anger has rested upon me. And You have troubled me with all Your waves. ⁸ You have taken my good friends far from me. You have made me hated by them. I am shut in and cannot go out. ⁹ My eyes have become weak because of trouble. I have called to You every day, O Lord. I have spread out my hands to You.

¹⁰ Will You show Your great works to the dead? Will the dead rise and praise You? ¹¹ Will Your loving-kindness be told about in the grave, and how faithful You are in the place that destroys? ¹² Will Your great works be known in the darkness, and Your right and good works in the land where all is forgotten?

¹³ But I have cried to You for help, O Lord. My prayer comes to You in the morning. ¹⁴ O Lord, why do You turn away from me? Why do You hide Your face from me? ¹⁵ I have been troubled and near death since I was young. I have suffered Your punishment. And I cannot win. ¹⁶ Your burning anger has passed over me. The punishment You have sent destroys me. ¹⁷ They gather around me like water all day long. Together they close in upon me. ¹⁸ You have taken my friend and loved one far from me. Friends that were near to me are in darkness.