1 A Song. A Psalm for the sons of Korah. To the Chief Musician. On Mahalath, to make humble. A Poem of Heman the Ezrahite. O Jehovah, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before You.
2 Let my prayer come before You; bow down Your ear to my cry.
3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near the grave.
4 I am counted with those who go down to the Pit; I am like a feeble man;
5 free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom You remember no more; and by Your hand they are cut off.
6 You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
7 Your wrath lies hard on me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah.
8 You have taken my friends away from me; You have made me a hateful thing to them. I am shut up, and I cannot go out.
9 My eye mourns because of affliction; O Jehovah, I have called daily on You; I have stretched out my hands to You.
10 For will You do wonders to the dead? Shall the dead rise and praise You? Selah.
11 Shall Your loving-kindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in ruin?
12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark, and Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But to You I have cried, O Jehovah; and in the morning my prayer shall go before You.
14 O Jehovah, why do You cast off my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me?
15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up; while I suffer Your terrors, I pine away.
16 Your fierce wrath goes over me; Your terrors have cut me off.
17 They surrounded me like waters all the day long; they have come together around me.
18 You have taken lover and friend far from me, and those who know me into darkness.