For God’s grace & mercy

during extreme suffering.

For the director of music. According to mahalath leannoth. A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

¹ Lord, you are the God who saves me.
Day and night I cry out to you.

² Please hear my prayer.
Pay attention to my cry for help.

³ I have so many troubles
I’m about to die.

⁴ People think my life is over.
I’m like someone who doesn’t have any strength.

⁵ People treat me as if I were dead.
I’m like those who have been killed and are now in the grave.
You don’t even remember them anymore.
They are cut off from your care.

⁶ It’s as if you have put me deep down in the grave.
It’s as if you have put me in that deep, dark place.

⁷ Your great anger lies heavy on me.
All the waves of your anger have crashed over me.

⁸ You have taken my closest friends away from me.
You have made me sickening to them.
I feel trapped and can’t escape.

⁹     I’m crying so much I can’t see very well.
Lord, I call out to you every day.
I lift up my hands to you in prayer.

¹⁰ Do you do wonderful things for those who are dead?
Do their spirits rise up and praise you?

¹¹ Do those who are dead speak about your love?
Do those who are in the grave tell how faithful you are?

¹² Are your wonderful deeds known in that dark place?
Are your holy acts known in that land where the dead are forgotten?

¹³ Lord, I cry out to you for help.
In the morning I pray to you.

¹⁴ Lord, why do you say no to me?
Why do you turn your face away from me?

¹⁵ I’ve been in pain ever since I was young.
I’ve been close to death.
You have made me suffer terrible things.
I have lost all hope.

¹⁶ Your great anger has swept over me.
Your terrors have destroyed me.

¹⁷ All day long they surround me like a flood.
They have closed in all around me.

¹⁸ You have taken my friends and neighbors away from me.
Darkness is my closest friend.