Font Size
Psalm 88:11-13
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 88:11-13
New Catholic Bible
11 Do you perform wonders[a] for the dead?
Do the shades rise up and give you praise? Selah
12 Is your kindness[b] celebrated in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the tomb?
13 Are your wonders known in the region of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?[c]
Footnotes
- Psalm 88:11 Wonders: see note on Ps 9:2. Rise up: i.e., a simple act of rising to give praise in the kingdom of the dead (see Isa 14:9)—not a bona fide resurrection from the dead.
- Psalm 88:12 The psalmist would be unable to render praise to God if he were to go to the grave, also known as the “pit.” Kindness . . . faithfulness: see notes on Pss 6:5; 36:6f. The tomb: literally, “destruction,” another name for the grave or the pit; in Hebrew it is Abaddon (see Job 26:6; 28:22; Prov 15:11; Rev 9:11).
- Psalm 88:13 The psalmist speaks of death as a place of total darkness, also known as the land of oblivion, in contrast with the “land of the living” (Pss 27:13; 52:7; 116:9; 142:6), because those who die are quickly forgotten by the living (see Pss 6:6; 31:13; Eccl 9:5).
