Psalms 88:15-18

88:15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth. ¹ 

I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain. ² 

88:16 Your anger overwhelms me; ³ 

your terrors destroy me.

88:17 They surround me like water all day long;

they join forces and encircle me. ⁴ 

88:18 You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance; ⁵ 

those who know me leave me alone in the darkness. ⁶ 

[88:15]  ¹ tn Heb “and am dying from youth.”

[88:15]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “passes over me.”

[88:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “they encircle me together.”

[88:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “you cause to be far from me friend and neighbor.”

[88:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “those known by me, darkness.”