Psalms 88:11-16

88:11 Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave,

or your faithfulness in the place of the dead? ¹ 

88:12 Are your amazing deeds experienced ²  in the dark region, ³ 

or your deliverance in the land of oblivion? ⁴ 

88:13 As for me, I cry out to you, O Lord;

in the morning my prayer confronts you.

88:14 O Lord, why do you reject me,

and pay no attention to me? ⁵ 

88:15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth. ⁶ 

I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain. ⁷ 

88:16 Your anger overwhelms me; ⁸ 

your terrors destroy me.

[88:11]  ¹ tn Heb “in Abaddon,” a name for Sheol. The noun is derived from a verbal root meaning “to perish,” “to die.”

[88:12]  ² tn Heb “known.”

[88:12]  ³ tn Heb “darkness,” here a title for Sheol.

[88:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “forgetfulness.” The noun, which occurs only here in the OT, is derived from a verbal root meaning “to forget.”

[88:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “[why] do you hide your face from me?”

[88:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “and am dying from youth.”

[88:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “I carry your horrors [?].” The meaning of the Hebrew form אָפוּנָה (’afunah), which occurs only here in the OT, is unclear. It may be an adverb meaning “very much” (BDB 67 s.v.), though some prefer to emend the text to אָפוּגָה (’afugah, “I am numb”) from the verb פוּג (pug; see Pss 38:8; 77:2).

[88:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “passes over me.”