[1] LORD, you are the God who saves me. Day and night I cry out to you. [2] Please hear my prayer. Pay attention to my cry for help. [3] I have so many troubles I’m about to die. [4] People think my life is over. I’m like someone who doesn’t have any strength. [5] People treat me as if I were dead. I’m like those who have been killed and are now in the grave. You don’t even remember them anymore. They are cut off from your care. [6] It’s as if you have put me deep down in the grave. It’s as if you have put me in that deep, dark place. [7] Your great anger lies heavy on me. All the waves of your anger have crashed over me. [8] You have taken my closest friends away from me. You have made me sickening to them. I feel trapped and can’t escape. [9] I’m crying so much I can’t see very well. LORD, I call out to you every day. I lift up my hands to you in prayer. [10] Do you do wonderful things for those who are dead? Do their spirits rise up and praise you? [11] Do those who are dead speak about your love? Do those who are in the grave tell how faithful you are? [12] Are your wonderful deeds known in that dark place? Are your holy acts known in that land where the dead are forgotten? [13] LORD, I cry out to you for help. In the morning I pray to you. [14] LORD, why do you say no to me? Why do you turn your face away from me? [15] I’ve been in pain ever since I was young. I’ve been close to death. You have made me suffer terrible things. I have lost all hope. [16] Your great anger has swept over me. Your terrors have destroyed me. [17] All day long they surround me like a flood. They have closed in all around me. [18] You have taken my friends and neighbors away from me. Darkness is my closest friend.
