Psalms 88:11

Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
lovingkindness	חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ chas.De.kha	H2617	kindness · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
declared	הַיְסֻפַּ֣ר hay.su.Par	H5608	properly · interrogative particle + verb, pual imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
grave	בַּקֶּ֣בֶר ba.Ke.ver	H6913	a sepulchre · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
faithfulness	אֱ֝מֽוּנָתְךָ֗ 'e.mu.na.te.kha	H530	literally firmness · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
destruction	בָּאֲבַדּֽוֹן ba.'a.va.Don	H11	abstract · preposition with the article + noun, feminine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 15:11 Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?
Job 21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
Job 26:6 Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.
Psalms 55:23 But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will…
Psalms 73:18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there…
Romans 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruct…
2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable he…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 88:10–end

In these verses, I. The psalmist expostulates with God concerning the present deplorable condition he was in (Psa 88:10-12): "Wilt thou do a miraculous work to the dead, and raise them to life again? Shall those that are dead and buried rise up to praise thee? No; they leave it to their children to rise up in their room to praise God; none expects that they should do it; and wherefore should they rise, wherefore should they live, but to praise God? The life we are born to at first, and the life we hope to rise to at last, must thus be spent. But shall thy lovingkindness to thy people be declared in the grave, either by those or to those that lie buried there? And thy faithfulness to thy prom…

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John Gill on Psalms 88:11

Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave?.... Where he saw himself now going, and where should he be detained, and not raised out of it, the lovingkindness of God to him, as his Son, and as man and Mediator, and to his people in the gift and mission of him to be their Saviour and Redeemer, how would that be declared and made known? now it is, Christ being raised, and his ministers having a commission from him to preach the Gospel, in which the lovingkindness of God is abundantly manifested: or thy faithfulness in destruction? the grave, so called from dead bodies being cast into it, and wasted, consumed, and destroyed in it: the meaning may be, that should he be laid in the grave,…

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John Calvin on Psalms 88:10-13

Psalm 88:10-13 10. Wilt thou perform a miracle for the dead? shall the dead [514] arise to praise thee? Selah. 11. Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave? thy truth in destruction? [515] 12. Shall thy wonders be known in darkness? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13. But to thee have I cried, O Jehovah! and in the morning my prayer shall come before thee. [516] 10. Wilt thou perform a miracle for the dead? By these words the prophet intimates, that God, if he did not make haste to succor him, would be too late, there being scarce anything betwixt him and death; and that therefore this was the critical juncture, if God was inclined to help him, for should the…

The Church Fathers

"Shall anyone declare in the sepulchre," and so forth. He shall not praise thee who is buried in the riches of the world, nor he who dwells in the ruin of sin.
— Jerome, Homily 65, on Psalm 87 (Alternate Series)

"Shall one show Thy loving-kindness in the grave, or Thy faithfulness in destruction?" (ver. 11). The word "show" is of course understood as if repeated, Shall any show Thy faithfulness in destruction? Scripture loves to connect loving-kindness and faithfulness, especially in the Psalms. "Destruction" also is a repetition of "the grave," and signifies them who are in the grave, styled above "the dead," in the verse, "Dost thou show wonders among the dead?" for the body is the grave of the dead soul; whence our Lord's words in the Gospel, "Ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 88

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Apollyon — Destroyer, the name given to the king of the hosts represented by the locusts (Rev. 9:11). It is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Abaddon (q.v.).
Ezrahite — A title given to Ethan (1 Kings 4:31; Ps. 89, title) and Heman (Ps. 88, title). They were both sons of Zerah (1 Chr. 2:6).
Job, Book of — A great diversity of opinion exists as to the authorship of this book. From internal evidence, such as the similarity of sentiment and language to those in the Psalms and Proverbs (see Ps. 88 and…
Leannoth — For answering; i.e., in singing, occurs in the title to Ps. 88. The title “Mahalath (q.v.) Leannoth” may be rendered “concerning sickness, to be sung” i.e., perhaps, to be sung in sickness.
Mahalath — A lute; lyre. (1.) The daughter of Ishmael, and third wife of Esau (Gen. 28:9); called also Bashemath (Gen. 36:3). (2.) The daughter of Jerimoth, who was one of David’s sons. She was one of…
Mahalath Leannoth Maschil — This word leannoth seems to point to some kind of instrument unknown (Ps. 88, title). The whole phrase has by others been rendered, “On the sickness of affliction: a lesson;” or, “Concerning…
Dead (People) · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Hades · 2. The realm (state) of the — 2. The realm (state) of the

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Psalms 88:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 88:10–end

John Gill on Psalms 88:11

John Calvin on Psalms 88:10-13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 88:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 88:10–end

John Gill on Psalms 88:11

John Calvin on Psalms 88:10-13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 88:8-12

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 88:8-12

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 88:11