All day long they engulf me like water; they enclose me on every side.
Parallel translations
- WEB They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me.
- KJV They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
- NKJV They came around me all day long like water; They engulfed me altogether.
- NASB They have surrounded me like water all day long; They have encircled me altogether.
- NLT They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long. They have engulfed me completely.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
His troubles surround him like floodwaters all day, completely engulfing him. He is encompassed by sorrow on every side.
Overview
Heman pictures his afflictions as constant flooding waters that close in around him entirely. There is no respite from the encircling distress. The image of engulfing waters recalls the depths Christ entered, going through the floods of suffering to bring His people safely through.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 22:16For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.
- Ps 116:3The ropes of death entangled me; the anguish of Sheol overcame me; I was confronted by trouble and sorrow.
- Ps 69:1–2For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David. Save me, O God, for the waters are up to my neck.
- Ps 42:7Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.
- Ps 124:4then the floods would have engulfed us, then the torrent would have overwhelmed us,
- Ps 118:10–12All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
- Lam 3:5–7He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
- Job 30:14–15They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in.
- Job 16:12–13I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;
- Matt 27:39–44And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 88:17 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.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.