Psalm 88

¹ LORD, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you.

² Let my prayer enter into your presence. Turn your ear to my cry.

³ For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol.

⁴ I am counted among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help,

⁵ set apart among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your hand.

⁶ You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.

⁷ Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah.

⁸ You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape.

⁹ My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, LORD. I have spread out my hands to you.

¹⁰ Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah.

¹¹ Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction?

¹² Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

¹³ But to you, LORD, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you.

¹⁴ LORD, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?

¹⁵ I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.

¹⁶ Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off.

¹⁷ They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me.

¹⁸ You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.

Around Psalm 88

Book context

PsalmsEditorial draft

Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers used in Israel’s worship, written by several people over a long period. Headings name David most often, along with Asaph, the sons of Korah and others. The collection falls into five books, each ending with a short blessing of the LORD (41:13, 72:19, 89:52, 106:48), and it closes with a call for everything that has breath to praise the LORD (150:6). The psalms hold praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession and trust, so readers find words for nearly every season of life.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · broad consensus · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

About Psalms as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?” A prayer can begin like that, and in the Psalms it does. Four times the poet asks how long, and then, in the same short song, comes the turn: “But I trust in your loving kindness.”

That honesty runs through the whole book. Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers, and it holds praise, thanksgiving, lament, confession, songs for the king, and reflections on wisdom and on God's law. It is arranged in five books and moves, on the whole, from many laments at the start to pure praise at the end.

Joy, fear, anger, guilt and doubt are all spoken to God directly.

Background

The psalms were written and gathered over several centuries. Their headings link about half of them with David and others with Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses. They were sung in the worship of the temple and later in synagogues and churches.

How Christians read it

Jews and Christians have prayed the Psalms daily for well over two thousand years. The New Testament quotes them more than any other book and reads many as speaking of Christ, among them Psalms 2, 22 and 110. The psalms that call for judgment on enemies are hard to read. Many understand them as handing vengeance over to God instead of taking it oneself.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 19 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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