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For in death there is no remembrance of you.
    Who praises you in Sheol?[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. 6:6 A motive for God to preserve the psalmist from death: in the shadowy world of the dead no one offers you praise. Sheol is the biblical term for the underworld where the insubstantial souls of dead human beings dwelt. It was similar to the Hades of Greek and Latin literature. In the second century B.C., biblical books begin to speak positively of life with God after death (Dn 12:1–3; Wis 3).

I am worn out(A) from my groaning.(B)

All night long I flood my bed with weeping(C)
    and drench my couch with tears.(D)

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[a]For my soul is filled with troubles;(A)
    my life draws near to Sheol.
I am reckoned with those who go down to the pit;
    I am like a warrior without strength.
My couch is among the dead,
    like the slain who lie in the grave.
You remember them no more;
    they are cut off from your influence.
You plunge me into the bottom of the pit,
    into the darkness of the abyss.

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Footnotes

  1. 88:4–8 In imagination the psalmist already experiences the alienation of Sheol.

I am counted among those who go down to the pit;(A)
    I am like one without strength.(B)
I am set apart with the dead,
    like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
    who are cut off(C) from your care.

You have put me in the lowest pit,
    in the darkest depths.(D)
Your wrath(E) lies heavily on me;
    you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.[a](F)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 88:7 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 10.

17 [a]The dead do not praise the Lord,
    not all those go down into silence.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 115:17 See note on Ps 6:5.

17 It is not the dead(A) who praise the Lord,
    those who go down to the place of silence;

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18 [a]For it is not Sheol that gives you thanks,
    nor death that praises you;
Neither do those who go down into the pit
    await your kindness.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 38:18–19 See note on Ps 6:6.

18 For the grave(A) cannot praise you,
    death cannot sing your praise;(B)
those who go down to the pit(C)
    cannot hope for your faithfulness.

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