Chapter 87

A Canticle Psalm to the sons of Korah. Unto the end. For Mahalath, to answer the understanding of Heman the Ezrahite.

O Lord, God of my salvation: I have cried out, day and night, in your presence.

Let my prayer enter in your sight. Incline your ear to my petition.

For my soul has been filled with evils, and my life has drawn near to Hell.

I am considered to be among those who will descend into the pit. I have become like a man without assistance,

idle among the dead. I am like the wounded sleeping in sepulchers, whom you no longer remember, and who have been repelled by your hand.

They have lain me in the lower pit: in dark places and in the shadow of death.

Your fury has been confirmed over me. And you have brought all your waves upon me.

You have sent my acquaintances far from me. They have set me as an abomination to themselves. I was handed over, yet I did not depart.

My eyes languished before destitution. All day long, I cried out to you, O Lord. I stretched out my hands to you.

Will you perform wonders for the dead? Or will physicians raise to life, and so confess to you?

Could anyone declare your mercy in the sepulcher, or your truth from within perdition?

Will your wonders be known in the darkness, or your justice in the land of oblivion?

And I have cried out to you, O Lord, and in early morning, my prayer will come before you.

Lord, why do you reject my prayer? Why do you turn your face away from me?

I am poor, and I have been amid hardships from my youth. And, though I have been exalted, I am humbled and disturbed.

Your wrath has crossed into me, and your terrors have disturbed me.

They have surrounded me like water, all day long. They have surrounded me, all at once.

Friend and neighbor, and my acquaintances, you have sent far away from me, away from misery.