1A song of a Psalm for the sons of Core for the end, upon Maeleth for responsive strains, of ¹⁵⁷instruction for Æman the Israelite.

2O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried by day and in the night before thee.

3Let my prayer come in before thee; incline thine ear to my supplication, O Lord.

4For my soul is filled with troubles, and my life has drawn nigh to Hades.

5I have been reckoned with them that go down to the pit; I became as a man without help;

6free among the dead, as the slain ones ¹⁵⁸cast out, who sleep in the tomb; whom thou rememberest no more; and they are rejected from thy hand.

7They laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, and in the shadow of death.

8Thy wrath has pressed heavily upon me, and thou hast brought upon me all thy billows. Pause.

9Thou hast removed my acquaintance far from me; they have made me an abomination to themselves; I have been delivered up, and have not gone forth.

10Mine eyes are dimmed from poverty; but I cried to thee, O Lord, all the day; I spread forth my hands to thee.

11Wilt thou work wonders for the dead? or shall ¹⁵⁹physicians raise them up, that they shall praise thee?

12Shall any one declare thy mercy in the tomb? and thy truth in destruction?

13Shall thy wonders be known in darkness? and thy righteousness in a forgotten land?

14But I cried to thee, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

15Wherefore, O Lord, dost thou reject my ¹⁶⁰prayer, and turn thy face away from me?

16I am poor and in troubles from my youth; and having been exalted, I was brought low and into ¹⁶¹despair.

17Thy wrath has passed over me; and thy terrors have greatly disquieted me.

18They compassed me like water; all the day they beset me together.

19Thou hast put far from me ¹⁶²every friend, and mine acquaintances because of my wretchedness.