PsalmsChapter 88

+ Secondary text Original text ← Previous Next →Contribute

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

LORD, God of my salvation, by day I cry out, by night I come before you.

Let my prayer reach your presence; turn your ear to my cry.

For my soul is full of troubles, and my life has come to the edge of Sheol.* [*Sheol: the realm of the dead]

I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I have become like a man with no strength left,

set loose among the dead, like the slain who lie in the tomb, whom you remember no more, cut off from your hand.

You have laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the depths.

Your wrath lies heavy upon me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. Selah

You have driven my friends far from me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in and cannot escape.

My eyes are worn out from affliction. I call to you, LORD, every day; I spread out my hands to you.

Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah

Is your mercy declared in the grave, your faithfulness in the place of ruin?

Are your wonders known in the darkness, your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

But I cry to you for help, LORD; in the morning my prayer comes before you.

Why, LORD, do you reject me? Why do you hide your face from me?

From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death; I have borne your terrors, and I am at my wits' end.

Your burning anger has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me.

All day long they surround me like water; together they close in on me.

You have taken from me friend and neighbor; darkness is my only companion.

Lookup

Summary2

Chapter 88

Main Theme: A lament expressing deep despair and the experience of being abandoned by God, without resolution or hope.

Content: The psalm was written by Heman the Ezrahite and belongs to the collection of the sons of Korah. The psalmist cries out to God day and night from a state near death, yet experiences that God hides His face. He describes how God's wrath rests upon him and how friends and acquaintances have withdrawn. The psalm ends in darkness—without the deliverance that otherwise characterizes laments.

Key Words/Images:

Sheol/the pit (שְׁאוֹל, בּוֹר): The realm of the dead as a picture of the psalmist's desperate condition and nearness to death.
Darkness (מַחֲשַׁכִּים): Symbolizes both physical and spiritual isolation from God and people.
God's wrath (חֲמָתֶךָ): The psalmist experiences his suffering as an expression of God's anger toward him.
Isolation: Friends and acquaintances have been removed; the psalmist is alone with his pain.

Historical context

Historical and Cultural Context for Psalm 88

People

The psalm's superscription mentions two attributions: "the sons of Korah" and "Heman the Ezrahite". Heman is one of the few named psalmists outside David and Asaph. According to 1 Chronicles 6:18–23, Heman was a Levitical singer who served in the temple, and 1 Kings 5:11 (4:31 in some translations) refers to him as one of the wise men whose wisdom Solomon surpassed. The designation "Ezrahite" (הָאֶזְרָחִי) may indicate either affiliation with the Zerah clan from the tribe of Judah, or it could be an honorific title meaning "the native". That the psalm is attributed both to the sons of Korah (a Levitical singing family) and to Heman individually suggests that it held a special place in the temple's liturgical tradition.

Key Terms

The psalm uses several Hebrew terms for the realm of the dead that reveal Israelite cosmology: שְׁאוֹל (she'ol) – the dwelling place of the dead; בּוֹר (bor) – the pit or abyss; אֲבַדּוֹן (avaddon) – "the place of destruction"; and אֶרֶץ נְשִׁיָּה (erets neshijah) – "the land of forgetfulness". These terms do not describe a place of punishment, but rather a shadowy existence cut off from God and community. The expression רְפָאִים (refa'im) in verse 11 refers to "shades" or "the powerless dead", a concept Israel shared with neighboring peoples, though without the same cultic worship of the dead.

The rare word אָפוּנָה (afunah) in verse 16 is a hapax legomenon – it occurs only here in the entire Old Testament. It is usually translated something like "I am bewildered" or "paralyzed with fear", but its meaning is uncertain, which has led to many different interpretations throughout history.

Events and Customs

The superscription contains the enigmatic term עַל־מָחֲלַת לְעַנּוֹת (al-machalat le'annot), which is likely a musical or liturgical direction. The word may mean "sickness" or "affliction" and suggests that the psalm was used in connection with serious illness or ritual lament. In Israelite culture, sickness was often associated with social isolation – the sick person was regarded as ritually unclean and cut off from the community (verses 9 and 19). The psalm's description of being "counted among those who go down to the pit" (verse 5) reflects the cultural view that serious illness was a form of provisional death, where the person already found themselves in a liminal state between life and death.

The rhetorical questions in verses 11–13 about whether God works wonders for the dead reflect the Old Testament understanding that the realm of the dead was outside God's active sphere – not because God lacked power there, but because the dead could no longer participate in covenant fellowship and praise.

People

No known people in this chapter.

Key words9

Lord's — A reference to God as the highest authority and ruler over all.
Prayer — Communication or conversation with God, usually expressed in the form of thanksgiving, praise, or requests.
Night — The time of day when the sun is below the horizon, often used symbolically for darkness, sorrow, or trials.
Soul — The spiritual and immortal part of a person, often regarded as that person's true essence.
Life — The biological process that characterizes living organisms, but also used metaphorically to describe a person's experiences and existence.
Grave — A place where the dead are buried, often used as a symbol of death and final rest.
Wrath — God's strong displeasure or anger, often directed toward sin and injustice.
Hand — A body part that represents God's power and influence in the world and in people's lives.
and 1 more