Psalms · 18 verses
Psalms 88
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Heman names the LORD the God of his salvation, yet finishes with darkness as his closest companion.
A prayer from the lowest Pitvv. 1–9
Heman, identified as the Ezrahite, begins with prayer in both directions of the day. His soul is full of troubles, his life near Sheol, and he is counted among the descending dead. The imagery is wonderfully severe: the LORD lays him in the lowest Pit, submerges him beneath waves of wrath, removes his friends, and leaves him confined. Still, Heman spreads out his hands.
Questions at the gravevv. 10–18
Then the prayer turns into a grim series of questions: can the dead praise, can loving devotion be proclaimed in the grave, can righteousness be known in the land of oblivion? Heman keeps praying in the morning, asks why the LORD rejects him and hides His face, and says that affliction and terror have pursued him from youth. The final inventory is bleakly tidy: beloved and friend are gone, and darkness is left nearest.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Ps 88:1A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choirmaster. According to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD, the God of my salvation, day and night I cry out before You.
Ps 88:2May my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry.
Ps 88:3For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
Ps 88:4I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength.
Ps 88:5I am forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, who are cut off from Your care.
Ps 88:6You have laid me in the lowest Pit, in the darkest of the depths.
Ps 88:7Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah
Ps 88:8You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape.
Ps 88:9My eyes grow dim with grief. I call to You daily, O LORD; I spread out my hands to You.
Ps 88:10Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
Ps 88:11Can Your loving devotion be proclaimed in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Ps 88:12Will Your wonders be known in the darkness, or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
Ps 88:13But to You, O LORD, I cry for help; in the morning my prayer comes before You.
Ps 88:14Why, O LORD, do You reject me? Why do You hide Your face from me?
Ps 88:15From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
Ps 88:16Your wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me.
Ps 88:17All day long they engulf me like water; they enclose me on every side.
Ps 88:18You have removed my beloved and my friend; darkness is my closest companion.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 201 passages were voted onto 18 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 13Psalms 5:3In the morning, O LORD, You hear my voice; at daybreak I lay my plea before You and wait in expectation.
- 13Mark 1:35Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went out to a solitary place to pray.
- 1Isaiah 12:2Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”
- 4Psalms 28:1Of David. To You, O LORD, I call; be not deaf to me, O my Rock. For if You remain silent, I will be like those descending to the Pit.
- 13Psalms 30:2O LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me.
- 1Psalms 22:2I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.
- 2Psalms 31:2Incline Your ear to me; come quickly to my rescue. Be my rock of refuge, the stronghold of my deliverance.
- 9Job 11:13As for you, if you direct your heart and lift up your hands to Him,
- 10Psalms 6:5For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol?
- 10Isaiah 26:19Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.
- 14Job 13:24Why do You hide Your face and consider me as Your enemy?
- 15Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- 1Psalms 86:3Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I call to You all day long.
- 1Luke 18:7Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay in helping them?
- 3Psalms 107:18They loathed all food and drew near to the gates of death.
- 42 Corinthians 1:9Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.
Onward