Limitless Word

Part of Book III📖 Psalms introduction

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1A 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. ✦ 2Let my prayer enter into your presence. Turn your ear to my cry. ✦ 3For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol. ✦ 4I am counted among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help, ✦ 5set apart among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your hand. ✦ 6You have laid me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. ✦ 7Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah. ✦ 8You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape. ✦ 9My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you. ✦ 10Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah. ✦ 11Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction? ✦ 12Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? ✦ 13But to you, Yahweh, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you. ✦ 14Yahweh, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? ✦ 15I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted. ✦ 16Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off. ✦ 17They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me. ✦ 18You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

Christ at the center

The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.

How Psalms 88 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

  • ★ Start hereCommentaryPsalms (Tyndale OT Commentaries)Derek Kidner · Paid · evangelical

    Concise, theologically rich, and wonderfully accessible — the best place to start on the Psalms.

Pastoral

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 88YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — Psalms 88David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Psalms 88Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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