Read & Study the Bible Online - Bible Portal
Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:1-18

Psalms 88:0 Darkness and despairOvercome with trials and seeing no way out of the situation, the writer prays desperately to God (1-2). He sees himself as being close to death, with no way of being rescued (3-5). He feels as if he has been left to die by both God and friends (6-8). He wants to experience God’s saving power now, while he is still alive, for it will be too late when he is dead (9-12).Looking back, the writer sees that all his life he has had nothing but suffering, yet God still... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Psalms 88:3

soul. Hebrew. nephesh ( App-13 ), for emphasis. the grave. Hebrew. Sheol. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Psalms 88:1-18

Psalms 88This is one of the saddest of the psalms. One writer called it the "darkest corner of the Psalter." [Note: R. E. O. White, "Psalms," in the Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, p. 388.] It is an individual lament. It relates the prayer of a person who suffered intensely over a long time yet continued to trust in the Lord."Psalms 88 is an embarrassment to conventional faith. It is the cry of a believer (who sounds like Job) whose life has gone awry, who desperately seeks contact with... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Psalms 88:3-9

aEvidently the psalmist’s suffering had resulted in his friends separating from him. God, too, had apparently abandoned him. Heman felt very close to death. He viewed his condition as coming directly from God. He felt alone and miserable."One of the first steps toward revival is to be completely transparent when we pray and not tell the Lord anything that is not true or that we do not really mean." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 250.] read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 88:1-18

This is the saddest and most despairing of all the Pss. The writer is apparently the victim of some incurable disease like leprosy, with which he has been afflicted from his youth (Psalms 88:15), and which cuts him off from the society of men (Psalms 88:8, Psalms 88:18). His life is already a living death (Psalms 88:3-6), and beyond death he has no hope (Psalms 88:10-12). He traces his trouble to God’s displeasure (Psalms 88:7, Psalms 88:14, Psalms 88:16), yet it is to God that he turns in... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 88:3

(3) Grave.—Sheôl. Here, as in Psalms 6:4-5; Psalms 33:19; Isaiah 38:10-11, there comes into prominence the thought that death severs the covenant relation with God, and so presents an irresistible reason why prayer should be heard now before it is too late. read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Psalms 88:1-18

Psalms 88:15 St. John of the Cross in The Ascent of Mount Carmel quotes this text in its Latin form: 'Pauper sum ego et in laboribus a juventute mea'. He says that David calls himself poor although it is clear that he was rich, because his will was not set on riches, and so he was in the same state as if he had really been poor. But if he had formerly been actually poor and had not been poor in will, he would not have been truly poor, since the soul was rich and full in appetite. Obras... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Psalms 88:1-18

Psalms 88:1-18A PSALM which begins with "God of my salvation" and ends with "darkness" is an anomaly. All but unbroken gloom broods over it, and is densest at its close. The psalmist is so "weighed upon by sore distress," that he has neither definite petition for deliverance nor hope. His cry to God is only a long-drawn complaint, which brings no respite from his pains nor brightening of his spirit. But yet to address God as the God of his salvation, to discern His hand in the infliction of... read more

Group of Brands