Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah.
- BSB Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. 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 calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
- Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
- Rom 2:5–9But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
- 1 Pet 2:24Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
- Jonah 2:3For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
- Rev 6:16–17And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
- Ps 38:1O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
- Ps 102:10Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.
- John 3:36He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
- Ps 32:4For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
- Ps 90:7For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
- Job 10:16For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.
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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 88:7 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
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