They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
Parallel translations
- WEB They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me.
- BSB All day long they engulf me like water; they enclose me on every side.
- 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 have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
- Ps 116:3The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
- Ps 69:1–2Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.
- Ps 42:7Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
- Ps 124:4Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
- Ps 118:10–12All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.
- Lam 3:5–7He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
- Job 30:14–15They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
- Job 16:12–13I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.
- Matt 27:39–44And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
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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.