Psalms Chapter 88
Showing all 18 verses for Psalms Chapter 88.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: "
"LORD, God who saves me, I have cried out to you day and night."
You don't have to feel hopeful to call out to me. Keep using the words even when you don't feel what they mean yet — that persistence itself is real faith, not fake positivity.
"Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; "
"Let my prayer reach you; turn your ear towards my cry."
Just being heard matters, even before anything changes. I'm listening, even in the moments it feels like silence on my end.
"For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. "
"My whole being is overwhelmed with trouble, and my life is edging closer to the grave."
You're allowed to say exactly how bad it is, without dressing it up. I don't need you to sound alright before I'll listen — tell me the truth of where you are.
"I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: "
"People count me among those already headed to the grave — I'm like someone with no strength left at all."
Even when others have written you off, I haven't. Strength running out doesn't put you outside my reach or my care.
"Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. "
"Left alone among the dead, like the slain lying in the grave — the ones you no longer remember, cut off from your care."
Even your fear of being forgotten is something you can say out loud to me. Naming the fear doesn't make it true — and being unseen by everyone else doesn't mean being unseen by me.
"Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. "
"You have put me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths."
You can be angry at me, even blame me, when life falls apart — I can take it. That kind of honesty, even furious honesty, is still a form of trust, because you're still talking to me instead of walking away.
"Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. "
"Your anger weighs heavily on me, and you've battered me with wave after wave of suffering. (Pause and take that in.)"
When trouble comes in waves, one after another with no let-up, I know that exhaustion. You don't have to have recovered from the last wave before the next one hits to still matter to me.
"Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. "
"You've driven my friends far away from me; you've made me repulsive to them — I'm shut in and can't get out."
Loneliness on top of pain is its own kind of suffering, and I see that double weight. I don't turn away from you the way others sometimes do when things get hard to look at.
"Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee. "
"My eyes are worn out with grief from suffering; LORD, I have called out to you every day, reaching my hands towards you."
Keep reaching your hands towards me even on days it feels pointless. The reaching itself matters to me, whether or not you can feel anything happening on the other end.
"Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. "
"Will you perform miracles for the dead? Will the dead rise up and praise you? (Pause and take that in.)"
Your life now, today, matters intensely to me — don't wait for some imagined future to really live or to speak honestly with me. Now is when connection actually happens.
"Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? "
"Will your unfailing love be announced in the grave? Or your faithfulness in the place of destruction?"
Bring me your most urgent case for why now matters. I'm not offended by desperate arguments — they show how much you actually want to live, not just endure.
"Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? "
"Will your wonders be known in the darkness? Will your goodness be recognised in the land where everything is forgotten?"
I hear the fear underneath these questions — not just of dying, but of being forgotten completely. That fear is real and human, and voicing it to me is not weakness.
"But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer thee. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"But I have cried out to you, LORD; every morning my prayer comes before you first thing."
Make me your first stop each morning, even in your worst season. Persistence like that, even without visible results yet, is its own quiet form of courage.
"LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? "
"LORD, why have you rejected me? Why are you hiding your face from me?"
You're allowed to ask me "why" and not get a neat answer back. I'd rather have your honest question than your fake certainty.
"I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I thy terrors I am distracted. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"I have been afflicted and near death since I was young; your terrors overwhelm me until I can't think straight."
Some pain doesn't have a neat beginning and end — it's just been there, for years, maybe your whole life. I don't need your suffering to be new or temporary to take it seriously.
"Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off. "
"Your fierce anger sweeps over me; your terrors have cut me off completely."
Even when it feels like I've cut you off completely, that feeling gets to exist without me demanding you pretend otherwise. I stay with you in the terror, even when you can't feel me there.
"They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together. "
"They surround me every day like floodwater, closing in on me from every side."
When it feels like trouble is closing in from every direction with no way out, I don't ask you to find an exit that isn't there. I ask you to let me stand in the flood with you.
"Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness. "
"You have taken my loved ones and friends away from me; the people I know are now hidden in darkness."
I don't need your story to have a tidy ending before I'll sit with you in it. Some nights just stay dark, and I'd rather you tell me the truth about that than perform a hope you don't feel yet — I'm still here either way.