Psalms 88
Big idea: The only psalm that ends in the dark. Every other lament turns somewhere — but I trust, nevertheless, yet — and this one does not. It ends: you have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness. The last word in Hebrew is darkness. What makes it more than despair is its first line, which is easy to miss: Yahweh, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you. Eighteen verses of unrelieved night, and he is still talking to God. That is why it is in the book.
Psalm 88 ends in darkness. Psalm 89 begins singing about loving kindness forever — and ends asking where it went.
88:1–9 — I am counted among those who go down into the pit
The darkest psalm in the book, and it is worth saying so plainly: it does not turn. Every other lament in the Psalter reaches a 'but'; this one has none. The first movement stacks the dead imagery — the pit, the grave, the slain 'whom you remember no more' — and then attributes it directly: YOU have laid me in the lowest pit, YOU have taken my friends from me.
1 A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Suffering of Affliction.” A contemplation by Heman, the Ezrahite. Yahweh, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you. 2 Let my prayer enter into your presence. Turn your ear to my cry. 3 For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol. 4 I am counted among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help, 5 set apart among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your hand. 6 You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. 7 Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah. 8 You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape. 9 My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you.
88:10–18 — My friends into darkness
Four questions about whether the dead can praise, which is the same argument Psalms 6 and 30 use — except here it does not work. Nothing arrives. The psalm keeps praying in the morning, keeps asking why, and then ends on the word DARKNESS with no resolution whatever. It is in the book because some prayers are like this, and the Psalter does not pretend otherwise.
10 Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah. 11 Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction? 12 Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But to you, Yahweh, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you. 14 Yahweh, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? 15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted. 16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off. 17 They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me. 18 You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).