Psalm 87

A Psalm of a Song for the sons of Core.

¹ His foundations are in the holy mountains. ² The Lord loves the gates of Sion, more than all the tabernacles of Jacob. ³ Glorious things have been spoken of thee, O city of God. Pause.

⁴ I will make mention of Raab and Babylon to them that know me: behold also the Philistines, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians: these were born there. ⁵ A man shall say, Sion is my mother; and such a man was born in her; and the Highest himself has founded her. ⁶ The Lord shall recount it in the writing of the people, and of these princes that ¹were born in her. ⁷ The dwelling of all within thee is as the dwelling of those that rejoice.

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Psalm 88

A song of a Psalm for the sons of Core for the end, upon Maeleth for responsive strains, of ²instruction for Æman the Israelite.

¹ O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried by day and in the night before thee. ² Let my prayer come in before thee; incline thine ear to my supplication, O Lord.

³ For my soul is filled with troubles, and my life has drawn nigh to Hades. ⁴ I have been reckoned with them that go down to the pit; I became as a man without help; ⁵ free among the dead, as the slain ones ³cast out, who sleep in the tomb; whom thou rememberest no more; and they are rejected from thy hand. ⁶ They laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, and in the shadow of death. ⁷ Thy wrath has pressed heavily upon me, and thou hast brought upon me all thy billows. Pause. ⁸ Thou hast removed my acquaintance far from me; they have made me an abomination to themselves; I have been delivered up, and have not gone forth. ⁹ Mine eyes are dimmed from poverty; but I cried to thee, O Lord, all the day; I spread forth my hands to thee.

¹⁰ Wilt thou work wonders for the dead? or shall ⁴physicians raise them up, that they shall praise thee? ¹¹ Shall any one declare thy mercy in the tomb? and thy truth in destruction? ¹² Shall thy wonders be known in darkness? and thy righteousness in a forgotten land? ¹³ But I cried to thee, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

¹⁴ Wherefore, O Lord, dost thou reject my ⁵prayer, and turn thy face away from me? ¹⁵ I am poor and in troubles from my youth; and having been exalted, I was brought low and into ⁶despair. ¹⁶ Thy wrath has passed over me; and thy terrors have greatly disquieted me. ¹⁷ They compassed me like water; all the day they beset me together. ¹⁸ Thou hast put far from me ⁷every friend, and mine acquaintances because of my wretchedness.