Mazmur 88:2-3

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 

Mazmur 88:10

88:10 Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead?

Do the departed spirits ⁵  rise up and give you thanks? (Selah)

[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.”

[88:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “Rephaim,” a term that refers to those who occupy the land of the dead (see Isa 14:9; 26:14, 19).