I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength.
Parallel translations
- WEB I am counted among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help,
- KJV I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
- NKJV I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength,
- NASB I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I have become like a man without strength,
- NLT I am as good as dead, like a strong man with no strength left.
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
He feels counted among the dead, a man with no strength or help. His suffering leaves him utterly weak and helpless.
Overview
Heman sees himself as already numbered with those descending to the pit, devoid of strength. This sense of helplessness expresses the depth of his affliction. Such utter weakness foreshadows the helplessness Christ embraced in His suffering, that He might rescue the helpless.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 28:1Of David. To You, O LORD, I call; be not deaf to me, O my Rock. For if You remain silent, I will be like those descending to the Pit.
- 2 Cor 1:9Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.
- Ps 143:7Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
- Ps 31:12I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind. I am like a broken vessel.
- Job 17:1“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
- Ps 30:9“What gain is there in my bloodshed, in my descent to the Pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your faithfulness?
- Isa 38:17–18Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
- Ps 109:22–24For I am poor and needy; my heart is wounded within me.
- 2 Cor 13:4For He was indeed crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. And though we are weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him to serve you.
- Ezek 26:20then I will bring you down with those who descend to the Pit, to the people of antiquity. I will make you dwell in the earth below like the ancient ruins, with those who descend to the Pit, so that you will no longer be inhabited or set in splendor in the land of the living.
- Jonah 2:6To the roots of the mountains I descended; the earth beneath me barred me in forever! But You raised my life from the pit, O LORD my God!
- Rom 5:6For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
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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 88:4 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.