3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh to Sheol.
4 I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength:
5 Prostrate among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave; whom thou rememberest no more, and who are cut off from thy hand.
6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the deeps.
7 Thy fury lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted [me] with all thy waves. Selah.
8 Thou hast put my familiar friends far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
9 Mine eye consumeth by reason of affliction. Upon thee, Jehovah, have I called every day; I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
10 Wilt thou do wonders to the dead? shall the shades arise and praise thee? Selah.
11 Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? thy faithfulness in Destruction?
12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But as for me, Jehovah, I cry unto thee, and in the morning my prayer cometh before thee.
14 Why, O Jehovah, castest thou off my soul? [why] hidest thou thy face from me?
15 I am afflicted and expiring from my youth up; I suffer thy terrors, [and] I am distracted.
16 Thy fierce anger hath gone over me; thy terrors have brought me to nought:
17 They have surrounded me all the day like water; they have compassed me about together.
18 Lover and associate hast thou put far from me: my familiar friends are darkness.
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).