Book Three (Psalms 73-89) "Concerning the Sanctuary"
Maschil of Haman the Ezrahite.
1: O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:
2: Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;
3: For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
4: I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
5: Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
6: Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
7: Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
8: Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
9: Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction:
LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
10: Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
11: Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?
12: Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13: But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
14: LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
15: I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
16: Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
17: They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
18: Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.