I Cry Out Day and Night Before You

Psalm 88

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil 1 of Heman the Ezrahite.

1
O Lord, c God of my salvation;
I d cry out day and night before you.
2 Let my prayer come before you;
e incline your ear to my cry!

3 For my soul is full of troubles,
and f my life draws near to g Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who h go down to the pit;
I am a man who has no strength,
5 like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom i you remember no more,
for they are j cut off from your hand.
6 You have put me in k the depths of the pit,
in the l regions dark and m deep.
7 Your wrath n lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with o all your waves. Selah

8 You have caused p my companions to shun me;
you have made me q a horror 2 to them.
I am r shut in so that I cannot escape;
9 s my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O Lord;
I t spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
u Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your v wonders known in w the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of x forgetfulness?

13 But I, O Lord, cry y to you;
z in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 O Lord, why a do you cast my soul away?
Why b do you hide your face from me?
15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. 3
16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your c dreadful assaults destroy me.
17 They d surround me like a flood e all day long;
they f close in on me together.
18 You have caused g my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness. 4

  1. Cross References
    Psalms 42:1
    Book Two As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.
  2. Cross References
    Psalms 53:1
    The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.
  3. Cross References
    1 Kings 4:31
    For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.
    1 Chronicles 2:6
    The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, five in all.
  4. Cross References
    Psalms 24:5
    He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
  5. Cross References
    Psalms 22:2
    O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
    Luke 18:7
    And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
  6. Cross References
    Psalms 31:2
    Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!
  7. Cross References
    Psalms 107:18
    They loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.
  8. Cross References
    Psalms 16:10
    For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
  9. Cross References
    Psalms 28:1
    To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.
  10. Cross References
    Psalms 31:12
    I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
  11. Cross References
    Isaiah 53:8
    By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
  12. Cross References
    Psalms 63:9
    But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth.
  13. Cross References
    Psalms 88:12
    Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
    Psalms 88:18
    You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
    Psalms 143:3
    For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
    Lamentations 3:6
    He has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.
  14. Cross References
    Psalms 69:15
    Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.
  15. Cross References
    Psalms 32:4
    For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
  16. Cross References
    Psalms 42:7
    Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.
  17. Cross References
    Psalms 88:18
    You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
    Psalms 142:4
    Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul.
    Job 19:13
    He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
  18. Cross References
    Job 30:10
    They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
  19. Cross References
    Jeremiah 32:2
    At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah.
  20. Cross References
    Psalms 6:7
    My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.
  21. Cross References
    Job 11:13
    If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him.
  22. Cross References
    Psalms 6:5
    For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?
  23. Cross References
    Psalms 89:5
    Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
  24. Cross References
    Psalms 88:6
    You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep.
    Job 10:21
    Before I go - and I shall not return - to the land of darkness and deep shadow.
  25. Cross References
    Ecclesiastes 9:5
    For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
  26. Cross References
    Psalms 30:2
    O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
  27. Cross References
    Psalms 5:3
    O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
  28. Cross References
    Psalms 44:9
    But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies.
  29. Cross References
    Job 13:24
    Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?
  30. Cross References
    Job 6:4
    For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
    Job 9:34
    Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me.
  31. Cross References
    Psalms 118:10 - 12
    All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
  32. Cross References
    Psalms 86:3
    Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day.
  33. Cross References
    Psalms 18:4
    The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me.
    Psalms 22:16
    For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet -
    Psalms 118:10
    All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
  34. Cross References
    Job 19:13 - 14
    He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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