Read & explore together
I Cry Out before You
Psalm 88 is a prayer-song that speaks to God from deep trouble. It does not quickly turn to relief. Instead, it shows a person crying out again and again while feeling close to death and far from other people.
Understanding the passage
Read these words in context
In this psalm, the speaker addresses Yahweh as "the God of my salvation" and keeps praying day and night. The words describe trouble, grief, isolation and a sense of being near the grave. The whole passage remains a direct prayer to God, including hard questions and repeated cries for God to hear.
Psalms 88:1–18Main takeaway
Psalm 88 shows that a person may bring unrelieved sorrow and honest questions directly to God in prayer.
Explore the poem and its images
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A cry to the God who savesThe psalm opens by naming Yahweh as "the God of my salvation" while also saying, "I have cried day and night before you".
Explanation
The psalm opens by naming Yahweh as "the God of my salvation" while also saying, "I have cried day and night before you". This matters because the prayer begins with God, not with silence. The speaker asks God to receive the prayer and to hear the cry.
02Trouble described like death and confinementThe speaker says the soul is full of troubles and life draws near to Sheol, the place of the dead.
Explanation
The speaker says the soul is full of troubles and life draws near to Sheol, the place of the dead. Images of the pit, grave, darkest depths and waves communicate overwhelming suffering. The psalm also speaks of being cut off from help, confined and unable to escape.
03Daily prayer with hard questionsEven with dim eyes from grief, the speaker says, "I have called on you daily" and stretched out hands to God.
Explanation
Even with dim eyes from grief, the speaker says, "I have called on you daily" and stretched out hands to God. Then come questions about the dead, the grave, darkness and forgetfulness. These questions press the pain before God rather than hiding it from him.
04Still praying, even without reliefThe prayer continues in the morning with the direct question, "Why do you reject my soul?"
Explanation
The prayer continues in the morning with the direct question, "Why do you reject my soul?" The closing lines speak of long affliction, terrors like floodwaters, and the loss of lover and friend. The psalm ends in darkness, yet it still ends as prayer spoken to Yahweh.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What do the first two verses show about where the speaker turns in suffering?
Look at the names used for God and the repeated words about crying and prayer entering God's presence.
02Which pictures in the middle of the psalm help you feel the weight of the speaker's trouble?
Notice the repeated images of Sheol, the pit, the grave, darkness, waves and confinement.
03How does the ending of the psalm stay honest without pretending everything is fixed?
Read the final verses and notice that the speaker keeps addressing Yahweh while still describing affliction, terrors and lost companionship.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Psalms 88:1–18
1Yahweh, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you.
2Let my prayer enter into your presence. Turn your ear to my cry.
3For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol.
4I am counted among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help,
5set apart among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your hand.
6You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.
7Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah.
8You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape.
9My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you.
10Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah.
11Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction?
12Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13But to you, Yahweh, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you.
14Yahweh, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?
15I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.
16Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off.
17They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me.
18You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.