For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
Parallel translations
- WEB For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol.
- KJV For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
- NKJV For my soul is full of troubles, And my life draws near to the grave.
- NASB For my soul has had enough troubles, And my life has approached Sheol.
- NLT For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near.
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 soul is full of troubles and his life draws near to death. He stands at the very edge of the grave.
Overview
Heman describes a life so overwhelmed by trouble that it nears Sheol, the realm of the dead. The honesty of his despair shows that lament has a place in faith. It points to the reality of human suffering that Christ fully entered, drawing near to death on behalf of His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 107:18They loathed all food and drew near to the gates of death.
- Mark 14:33–34He took with Him Peter, James, and John, and began to be deeply troubled and distressed.
- Lam 3:15–19He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.
- Isa 53:3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
- Ps 69:17–21Hide not Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me quickly!
- Ps 88:14–15Why, O LORD, do You reject me? Why do You hide Your face from me?
- Ps 143:3–4For the enemy has pursued my soul, crushing my life to the ground, making me dwell in darkness like those long since dead.
- Matt 26:37–39He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.
- Job 6:2–4“If only my grief could be weighed and placed with my calamity on the scales.
- Ps 77:2In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.
- Job 33:22He draws near to the Pit, and his life to the messengers of death.
- Ps 107:26They mounted up to the heavens, then sunk to the depths; their courage melted in their anguish.
- Isa 53:10–11Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
- Ps 22:11–21Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
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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 88:3 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.