New Living Translation

Psalms • Chapter 88

1 O LORD, God (Elohim) of my salvation,<br>I cry out to you by day.<br>I come to you at night.<br> 2 Now hear my prayer;<br>listen to my cry.<br> 3 For my life is full of troubles,<br>and death draws near.<br> 4 I am as good as dead,<br>like a strong man with no strength left.<br> 5 They have left me among the dead,<br>and I lie like a corpse in a grave.<br>I am forgotten,<br>cut off from your care.<br> 6 You have thrown me into the lowest pit,<br>into the darkest depths.<br> 7 Your anger weighs me down;<br>with wave after wave you have engulfed me. <i>Interlude</i><br> 8 You have driven my friends away<br>by making me repulsive to them.<br>I am in a trap with no way of escape.<br> 9 My eyes are blinded by my tears.<br>Each day I beg for your help, O LORD;<br>I lift my hands to you for mercy.<br> 10 Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead?<br>Do the dead rise up and praise you? <i>Interlude</i><br> 11 Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love?<br>Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction?<br> 12 Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds?<br>Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?<br> 13 O LORD, I cry out to you.<br>I will keep on pleading day by day.<br> 14 O LORD, why do you reject me?<br>Why do you turn your face from me?<br> 15 I have been sick and close to death since my youth.<br>I stand helpless and desperate before your terrors.<br> 16 Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me.<br>Your terrors have paralyzed me.<br> 17 They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long.<br>They have engulfed me completely.<br> 18 You have taken away my companions and loved ones.<br>Darkness is my closest friend.<br>