Psaume 88

A prayer from the darkness

¹A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the music director. On mahalath leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. ²LORD, God who saves me, \q I have cried for help by day, and at night I am before you. ³Let my prayer make its way into your presence; \q bend down and hear me as I cry. ⁴For I have had my fill of troubles, \q and my life has come to the edge of Sheol. ⁵I am reckoned with those who descend into the pit; \q I have become like someone with no strength left. ⁶I am turned loose among the dead, \q like those killed in battle who lie buried, whom you no longer keep in mind, \q who are beyond the reach of your hand. ⁷You have laid me at the bottom of the pit, \q in places of darkness, in the deep waters. ⁸Your fury presses down on me; \q you have crushed me under all your waves. Selah ⁹You have driven my friends away from me \q and made me loathsome to them; \q I am shut in, with no way out. ¹⁰My eyes are worn out with misery. \q Day after day I call on you, LORD, \q holding out my hands to you. ¹¹Are your wonders done for the dead? \q Do the spirits of the dead stand up to give you thanks? Selah ¹²Does anyone tell of your loyal love in the grave, \q or of your faithfulness in Abaddon? ¹³Will anyone in the darkness know your wonders, \q or your saving justice in the land where all is forgotten? ¹⁴As for me, LORD, I keep calling to you for help; \q at dawn my prayer is there to meet you. ¹⁵LORD, why do you cast me off? \q Why do you turn your face away from me? ¹⁶From my youth I have been afflicted and close to dying; \q I bear your terrors and am at a loss. ¹⁷Your blazing anger has rolled over me; \q your terrors have put an end to me. ¹⁸Like water they swirl around me the whole day; \q from every side at once they close in. ¹⁹You have taken far from me those I love and my friends; \q my one companion is the dark.