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10 Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead?
Do the departed spirits[a] rise up and give you thanks? (Selah)
11 Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the place of the dead?[b]
12 Are your amazing deeds experienced[c] in the dark region,[d]
or your deliverance in the land of oblivion?[e]

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 88:10 tn Heb “Rephaim,” a term that refers to those who occupy the land of the dead (see Isa 14:9; 26:14, 19).
  2. Psalm 88:11 tn Heb “in Abaddon,” a name for Sheol. The noun is derived from a verbal root meaning “to perish,” “to die.”
  3. Psalm 88:12 tn Heb “known.”
  4. Psalm 88:12 tn Heb “darkness,” here a title for Sheol.
  5. Psalm 88:12 tn Heb “forgetfulness.” The noun, which occurs only here in the OT, is derived from a verbal root meaning “to forget.”sn The rhetorical questions in vv. 10-12 expect the answer, “Of course not!”

10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?
    Do their spirits rise up and praise you?(A)
11 Is your love declared in the grave,
    your faithfulness(B) in Destruction[a]?
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
    or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 88:11 Hebrew Abaddon