Mazmur 88:14-16

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

and pay no attention to me? ¹ 

88:15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth. ² 

I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain. ³ 

88:16 Your anger overwhelms me; ⁴ 

your terrors destroy me.

[88:14]  ¹ tn Heb “[why] do you hide your face from me?”

[88:15]  ² tn Heb “and am dying from youth.”

[88:15]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “passes over me.”