Psalm 88:15
New International Version
From my youth I have suffered and been close to death; I have borne your terrors and am in despair.

New Living Translation
I have been sick and close to death since my youth. I stand helpless and desperate before your terrors.

English Standard Version
Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.

Berean Standard Bible
From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.

King James Bible
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

New King James Version
I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught.

New American Standard Bible
I was miserable and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I grow weary.

NASB 1995
I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I am overcome.

NASB 1977
I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Thy terrors; I am overcome.

Legacy Standard Bible
I have been afflicted and about to breathe my last from my youth on; I bear Your terrors; I am overcome.

Amplified Bible
I was afflicted and close to death from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I am overcome.

Christian Standard Bible
From my youth, I have been suffering and near death. I suffer your horrors; I am desperate.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
From my youth, I have been afflicted and near death. I suffer Your horrors; I am desperate.

American Standard Version
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: While I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

Contemporary English Version
Ever since I was a child, I have been sick and close to death. You have terrified me and made me helpless.

English Revised Version
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Ever since I was young, I have been suffering and near death. I have endured your terrors, and now I am in despair.

Good News Translation
Ever since I was young, I have suffered and been near death; I am worn out from the burden of your punishments.

International Standard Version
Since my youth I have been oppressed and in danger of death. I bear your dread and am overwhelmed.

Majority Standard Bible
From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.

NET Bible
I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth. I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain.

New Heart English Bible
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.

Webster's Bible Translation
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

World English Bible
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
I [am] afflicted, and expiring from youth, "" I have borne Your terrors—I pine away.

Young's Literal Translation
I am afflicted, and expiring from youth, I have borne Thy terrors -- I pine away.

Smith's Literal Translation
I am poor and expiring from youth: I bore thy terrors; I shall be perplexed.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
I am poor, and in labours from my youth: and being exalted have been humbled and troubled.

Catholic Public Domain Version
I am poor, and I have been amid hardships from my youth. And, though I have been exalted, I am humbled and disturbed.

New American Bible
I have been mortally afflicted since youth; I have borne your terrors and I am made numb.

New Revised Standard Version
Wretched and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
I am poor and afflicted from my youth; I have been proud, but now I am humbled and crushed.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
I am afflicted and weary from my youth; I was exalted and I have been humbled and confounded.
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
I am afflicted and at the point of death from my youth up; I have borne Thy terrors, I am distracted.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
I am poor and in troubles from my youth; and having been exalted, I was brought low and into despair.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Day and Night I Cry Out Before You
14Why, O LORD, do You reject me? Why do You hide Your face from me? 15From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair. 16Your wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me.…

Cross References
Job 30:16-23
And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction grip me. / Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest. / With great force He grasps my garment; He seizes me by the collar of my tunic. ...

Lamentations 3:1-18
I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath. / He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light. / Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long. ...

Isaiah 53:3
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

Job 7:3-5
So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed to me. / When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn. / My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.

Job 10:15-17
If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction. / Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me. / You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me in wave after wave.

Jeremiah 20:14-18
Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me never be blessed. / Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, saying, “A son is born to you,” bringing him great joy. / May that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without compassion. May he hear an outcry in the morning and a battle cry at noon, ...

Psalm 22:1-2
For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning? / I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.

Psalm 38:6-8
I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning. / For my loins are full of burning pain, and no soundness remains in my body. / I am numb and badly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.

Psalm 42:9-10
I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?” / Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Psalm 77:2-9
In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted. / I remembered You, O God, and I groaned; I mused and my spirit grew faint. Selah / You have kept my eyes from closing; I am too troubled to speak. ...

2 Corinthians 1:8-9
We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. / Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.

Matthew 26:38
Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.”

Mark 14:34
Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.”

Luke 22:44
And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Romans 8:36
As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”


Treasury of Scripture

I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer your terrors I am distracted.

afflicted

Psalm 73:14
For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.

Job 17:1,11-16
My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me…

Isaiah 53:3
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

while

Psalm 22:14,15
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels…

Job 6:4
For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

Job 7:11-16
Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul…

Jump to Previous
Afflicted Borne Close Death Despair Die Distracted Fear Hard Helpless Overcome Pine Point Ready Strength Suffer Suffered Terrors Time Troubled Wrath Young Youth
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Afflicted Borne Close Death Despair Die Distracted Fear Hard Helpless Overcome Pine Point Ready Strength Suffer Suffered Terrors Time Troubled Wrath Young Youth
Psalm 88
1. A prayer containing a grievous complaint.














From my youth
The phrase "From my youth" suggests a prolonged period of suffering, indicating that the psalmist has been experiencing affliction for a significant portion of their life. In Hebrew, the word for "youth" (נְעוּרַי, ne'uray) often refers to the early stages of life, a time typically associated with vigor and hope. The psalmist's use of this term underscores the depth and duration of their distress, highlighting a life marked by continuous struggle rather than the expected vitality of youth.

I was afflicted
The term "afflicted" (עֻנֵּיתִי, uneti) in Hebrew conveys a sense of being humbled or oppressed. This word is often used in the Old Testament to describe the suffering of the Israelites under foreign oppression or divine discipline. The psalmist's affliction is not just physical but also spiritual and emotional, suggesting a comprehensive experience of suffering that has shaped their entire existence.

and near death
The phrase "and near death" emphasizes the severity of the psalmist's condition. In the Hebrew context, being "near death" (וְגוֹסֵס, vegoses) implies a state of extreme vulnerability and helplessness. This expression reflects the psalmist's perception of their mortality and the constant threat of death, which looms over them as a result of their prolonged affliction.

I have borne Your terrors
The phrase "I have borne Your terrors" indicates that the psalmist attributes their suffering to divine action. The word "terrors" (אֵימָתֶיךָ, eimatecha) suggests overwhelming fear and dread, often associated with the presence or judgment of God. This acknowledgment of divine involvement in their suffering reflects a theological understanding that God is sovereign over all circumstances, even those that are painful and difficult to comprehend.

I am in despair
The concluding phrase "I am in despair" captures the emotional and spiritual state of the psalmist. The Hebrew word for "despair" (אָפוּנָה, afunah) conveys a sense of being overwhelmed and without hope. This expression of despair is a raw and honest acknowledgment of the psalmist's current reality, yet it is also a form of prayer, a cry for help directed towards God. In the broader biblical narrative, such expressions of lament are often precursors to divine intervention and restoration, reminding believers of the hope that can emerge from even the darkest circumstances.

(15) Terrors.--Another of the many expressions which connect this psalm with the book of Job. (See Job 6:4; Job 9:34, &c.)

Distracted.--The Hebrew word is peculiar to the place. The ancient versions all agree in taking it as a verb, and rendering it by some general term denoting "trouble." But the context evidently requires a stronger word, and possibly connecting with a cognate word meaning "wheel," we may get, "I turn giddy." A change of a stroke in one letter would give "I grow frigid." (Comp. Psalm 38:8.)

Verse 15. - I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. This is a new point. The psalmist's afflictions have not come upon him recently. He does not merely mean, as some have supposed, that, like other men, as soon as he was born he began to die, but speaks of something, if not absolutely peculiar to himself, yet at any rate rare and abnormal - a long continuance in a dying state, such as could only have been brought about by some terribly severe malady. While I suffer thy terrors I am distracted; literally, I have endured thy terrors; I am exhausted. (On the endurance of God's "terrors," see Job 6:4; Job 9:34; Job 13:21.) The natural result would be a state, not of distraction, but of exhaustion. (So Kay, and substantially Professor Cheyne.)

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
From my youth
מִנֹּ֑עַר (min·nō·‘ar)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5290: Youth, early life

I [was]
אֲנִ֣י (’ă·nî)
Pronoun - first person common singular
Strong's 589: I

afflicted
עָ֘נִ֤י (‘ā·nî)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 6041: Poor, afflicted, humble

and near death.
וְגֹוֵ֣עַ (wə·ḡō·wê·a‘)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1478: To breathe out, expire

I suffer
נָשָׂ֖אתִי (nā·śā·ṯî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5375: To lift, carry, take

Your terrors;
אֵמֶ֣יךָ (’ê·me·ḵā)
Noun - feminine plural construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 367: Fright, an idol

I am in despair.
אָפֽוּנָה׃ (’ā·p̄ū·nāh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect Cohortative - first person common singular
Strong's 6323: Be distracted


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OT Poetry: Psalm 88:15 I am afflicted and ready to die (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 88:14
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