88:3 For my life 1 is filled with troubles
and I am ready to enter Sheol. 2
88:4 They treat me like 3 those who descend into the grave. 4
I am like a helpless man, 5
88:5 adrift 6 among the dead,
like corpses lying in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
and who are cut off from your power. 7
88:6 You place me in the lowest regions of the pit, 8
in the dark places, in the watery depths.
88:7 Your anger bears down on me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. (Selah)
88:8 You cause those who know me to keep their distance;
you make me an appalling sight to them.
I am trapped and cannot get free. 9
88:9 My eyes grow weak because of oppression.
I call out to you, O Lord, all day long;
I spread out my hands in prayer to you. 10
1 tn Or “my soul.”
2 tn Heb “and my life approaches Sheol.”
3 tn Heb “I am considered with.”
4 tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.
5 tn Heb “I am like a man [for whom] there is no help.”
6 tn Heb “set free.”
7 tn Heb “from your hand.”
8 tn The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See v. 4.
9 tn Heb “[I am] confined and I cannot go out.”
10 tn Heb “I spread out my hands to you.” Spreading out the hands toward God was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). The words “in prayer” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this.