# Psalm 88 (New King James Version)
A Prayer for Help in Despondency

##### Chapter 88
###### 1 O Lord, God of my salvation,  
I have cried out day and night before You.  

###### 2 Let my prayer come before You;  
Incline Your ear to my cry.

###### 3 For my soul is full of troubles,  
And my life draws near to the grave.  

###### 4 I am counted with those who go down to the pit;  
I am like a man _who has_ no strength,  

###### 5 Adrift among the dead,  
Like the slain who lie in the grave,  
Whom You remember no more,  
And who are cut off from Your hand.

###### 6 You have laid me in the lowest pit,  
In darkness, in the depths.  

###### 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,  
And You have afflicted _me_ with all Your waves. _Selah_  

###### 8 You have put away my acquaintances far from me;  
You have made me an abomination to them;  
_I am_ shut up, and I cannot get out;  

###### 9 My eye wastes away because of affliction.
Lord, I have called daily upon You;  
I have stretched out my hands to You.  

###### 10 Will You work wonders for the dead?  
Shall the dead arise _and_ praise You? _Selah_  

###### 11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave?  
_Or_ Your faithfulness in the place of destruction?  

###### 12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark?  
And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

###### 13 But to You I have cried out, O Lord,  
And in the morning my prayer comes before You.  

###### 14 Lord, why do You cast off my soul?  
_Why_ do You hide Your face from me?  

###### 15 I _have been_ afflicted and ready to die from _my_ youth;  
I suffer Your terrors;  
I am distraught.  

###### 16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me;  
Your terrors have cut me off.  

###### 17 They came around me all day long like water;  
They engulfed me altogether.  

###### 18 Loved one and friend You have put far from me,  
_And_ my acquaintances into darkness.