I Cry Out before You

The psalm begins with an appeal to the LORD, the God of salvation, asking that prayer spoken day and night might be heard. The singer says his soul is saturated with troubles, that his life is near Sheol, and that he is already counted among those going down to the Pit. He feels weak, forsaken, and nearly indistinguishable from the dead.

A¹ song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choirmaster. According to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. ²May my prayer come before You; ³For my soul is full of troubles, ⁴I am counted among those descending to the Pit. ⁵I am forsaken among the dead,

The psalmist describes God as having put him in the lowest pit and pressed him down with waves of wrath. His friends have been taken away, he has become repulsive to others, and he feels shut in with no escape. Still, his dimming eyes and stretched-out hands show that grief has not ended his daily prayer.

⁶You have laid me in the lowest Pit, ⁷Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; ⁸You have removed my friends from me; ⁹My eyes grow dim with grief.

A series of questions asks whether God works wonders for the dead, whether the grave proclaims his steadfast love, and whether darkness can bear witness to his righteousness. The force of the appeal is clear: if the speaker sinks fully into death, the public praise and remembrance of God's covenant deeds are silenced.

¹⁰Do You work wonders for the dead? ¹¹Can Your loving devotion be proclaimed in the grave, ¹²Will Your wonders be known in the darkness,

Though he continues to pray each morning, the psalmist still experiences the LORD as rejecting him and hiding his face. He says affliction has marked him since youth, that divine terrors have swept over and surrounded him like water, and that every beloved companion has been removed. The psalm ends without resolution, leaving darkness as the final image.

¹³But to You, O LORD, I cry for help; ¹⁴Why, O LORD, do You reject me? ¹⁵From my youth I was afflicted and near death. ¹⁶Your wrath has swept over me; ¹⁷All day long they engulf me like water; ¹⁸You have removed my beloved and my friend;