17 They are round me all the day like water; they have made a circle about me.
Dogs have come round me: I am shut in by the band of evil-doers; they made wounds in my hands and feet.
I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows. His bowmen come round about me; their arrows go through my body without mercy; my life is drained out on the earth.
Deep is sounding to deep at the noise of your waterfalls; all your waves have gone rolling over me.
<To the chief music-maker; put to Shoshannim. Of David.> Be my saviour, O God; because the waters have come in, even to my neck. My feet are deep in the soft earth, where there is no support; I have come into deep waters, the waves are flowing over me.
All the nations have come round me; but in the name of the Lord I will have them cut down. They are round me, yes, they are all about me; but in the name of the Lord I will have them cut down. They are round me like bees; but they are put out like a fire among thorns; for in the name of the Lord I will have them cut down.
We would have been covered by the waters; the streams would have gone over our soul;
And those who went by said bitter words to him, shaking their heads and saying, You who would give the Temple to destruction and put it up again in three days, get yourself free: if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. In the same way, the chief priests, making sport of him, with the scribes and those in authority, said, A saviour of others, he has no salvation for himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will have faith in him. He put his faith in God; let God be his saviour now, if he will have him; for he said, I am the Son of God. And the thieves who were on the crosses said evil words to him.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 88
Commentary on Psalms 88 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 88
Ps 88:1-18. Upon Mahalath—either an instrument, as a lute, to be used as an accompaniment (Leannoth, "for singing") or, as others think, an enigmatic title (see on Ps 5:1, Ps 22:1, and Ps 45:1, titles), denoting the subject—that is, "sickness or disease, for humbling," the idea of spiritual maladies being often represented by disease (compare Ps 6:5, 6; 22:14, 15, &c.). On the other terms, see on Ps 42:1 and Ps 32:1. Heman and Ethan (see on Ps 89:1, title) were David's singers (1Ch 6:18, 33; 15:17), of the family of Kohath. If the persons alluded to (1Ki 4:31; 1Ch 2:6), they were probably adopted into the tribe of Judah. Though called a song, which usually implies joy (Ps 83:1), both the style and matter of the Psalm are very despondent; yet the appeals to God evince faith, and we may suppose that the word "song" might be extended to such compositions.
1, 2. Compare on the terms used, Ps 22:2; 31:2.
3. grave—literally, "hell" (Ps 16:10), death in wide sense.
4. go … pit—of destruction (Ps 28:1).
as a man—literally, "a stout man," whose strength is utterly gone.
5. Free … dead—Cut off from God's care, as are the slain, who, falling under His wrath, are left, no longer sustained by His hand.
6. Similar figures for distress in Ps 63:9; 69:3.
7. Compare Ps 38:2, on first, and Ps 42:7, on last clause.
8. Both cut off from sympathy and made hateful to friends (Ps 31:11).
9. Mine eye mourneth—literally, "decays," or fails, denoting exhaustion (Ps 6:7; 31:9).
I … called—(Ps 86:5, 7).
stretched out—for help (Ps 44:20).
10. shall the dead—the remains of ghosts.
arise—literally, "rise up," that is, as dead persons.
11, 12. amplify the foregoing, the whole purport (as Ps 6:5) being to contrast death and life as seasons for praising God.
13. prevent—meet—that is, he will diligently come before God for help (Ps 18:41).
14. On the terms (Ps 27:9; 74:1; 77:7).
15. from … youth up—all my life.
16, 17. the extremes of anguish and despair are depicted.
18. into darkness—Better omit "into"—"mine acquaintances (are) darkness," the gloom of death, &c. (Job 17:13, 14).