For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah. A song to be sung to the tune “The Suffering of Affliction.” A psalma of Heman the Ezrahite.

1O LORD, God of my salvation,

I cry out to you by day.

I come to you at night.

2Now hear my prayer;

listen to my cry.

3For my life is full of troubles,

and deathb draws near.

4I am as good as dead,

like a strong man with no strength left.

5They have left me among the dead,

and I lie like a corpse in a grave.

I am forgotten,

cut off from your care.

6You have thrown me into the lowest pit,

into the darkest depths.

7Your anger weighs me down;

with wave after wave you have engulfed me.

Interlude

8You have driven my friends away

by making me repulsive to them.

I am in a trap with no way of escape.

9My eyes are blinded by my tears.

Each day I beg for your help, O LORD;

I lift my hands to you for mercy.

10Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead?

Do the dead rise up and praise you?

Interlude

11Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love?

Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction?c

12Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds?

Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?

13O LORD, I cry out to you.

I will keep on pleading day by day.

14O LORD, why do you reject me?

Why do you turn your face from me?

15I have been sick and close to death since my youth.

I stand helpless and desperate before your terrors.

16Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me.

Your terrors have paralyzed me.

17They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long.

They have engulfed me completely.

18You have taken away my companions and loved ones.

Darkness is my closest friend.