Psalm 88: Darkness Is My Closest Friend

"O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: let my prayer come before thee… For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit… Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more… Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps."

"Thy wrath lieth hard upon 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… Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark?"

"But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up… Thy fierce wrath goeth over me… Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness."

Questions about the dead

Six questions (vv. 10–12) ask whether God's wonders, love and faithfulness can be known among the dead, in Abaddon ("destruction") and "the land of forgetfulness." They assume that the dead do not praise God, as Psalm 6:5 and 30:9 do. The speaker argues for rescue: only the living can praise.

Ending in darkness

The last Hebrew word is mahshakh, "darkness": "my companions are darkness," or "my acquaintance is the dark place." Every other lament in the Psalter turns, at least briefly, to trust or praise. Psalm 88 alone does not, though its first words still address "the God of my salvation."

Two headings in one

"A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite." It is attributed both to the Korahites and to Heman. Heman the Ezrahite is named among the wise in 1 Kings 4:31; 1 Chronicles 6:33 lists a Heman descended from Korah as a chief singer. The combined heading may preserve two traditions. Mahalath leannoth may mean "on sickness, for affliction" or name a tune; the library's Vulgate reads "pro Maheleth ad respondendum".

"Free among the dead"

88:5 bammetim hofshi: "free" may mean released from obligations, as a freed slave, or abandoned. The library's Vulgate "inter mortuos liber" became a line in Christian Holy Saturday liturgy, applied to Christ in the tomb.