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Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah
Psalms 88:7 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah.
  • KJV Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
  • NKJV Your wrath lies heavy upon me, And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah
  • NASB Your wrath has rested upon me, And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah
  • NLT Your anger weighs me down; with wave after wave you have engulfed me. Interlude

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 the weight of God's wrath and is afflicted by all His waves. He experiences his suffering as divine judgment.

Overview

Heman describes being overwhelmed as by crashing waves, feeling the heaviness of God's displeasure. The lament does not resolve the why, but holds it before God. This sense of wrath overwhelming the sufferer points ultimately to Christ, who bore the full waves of God's wrath so His people never will.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • Ps 42:7Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.
  • Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
  • Rom 2:5–9But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
  • 1 Pet 2:24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
  • Jonah 2:3For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.
  • Rev 6:16–17And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.
  • Ps 38:1A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
  • Ps 102:10because of Your indignation and wrath, for You have picked me up and cast me aside.
  • John 3:36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
  • Ps 32:4For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah
  • Ps 90:7For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.
  • Job 10:16Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

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

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 88:7YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

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

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

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 88:7 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.