Mazmur 88:2-8

88:2 Listen to my prayer! ¹ 

Pay attention ²  to my cry for help!

88:3 For my life ³  is filled with troubles

and I am ready to enter Sheol. ⁴ 

88:4 They treat me like ⁵  those who descend into the grave. ⁶ 

I am like a helpless man, ⁷ 

88:5 adrift ⁸  among the dead,

like corpses lying in the grave,

whom you remember no more,

and who are cut off from your power. ⁹ 

88:6 You place me in the lowest regions of the pit, ¹⁰ 

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. ¹¹ 

[88:2]  ¹ tn Heb “may my prayer come before you.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s desire or prayer.

[88:2]  ² tn Heb “turn your ear.”

[88:3]  ³ tn Or “my soul.”

[88:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and my life approaches Sheol.”

[88:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “I am considered with.”

[88:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.

[88:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “I am like a man [for whom] there is no help.”

[88:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “set free.”

[88:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “from your hand.”

[88:6]  ¹⁰ tn The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See v. 4.

[88:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[I am] confined and I cannot go out.”