Psalms 88:14

LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
LORD	יְ֭הוָה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
off	תִּזְנַ֣ח tiz.Nach	H2186	reject · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
soul	נַפְשִׁ֑י naf.Shi	H5315	properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
hidest	תַּסְתִּ֖יר tas.Tir	H5641	to hide (by covering) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
face	פָּנֶ֣יךָ pa.Nei.kha	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular

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

Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
Psalms 13:1 How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
Psalms 43:2 For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
Psalms 44:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou fo…
Psalms 44:9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
Psalms 69:17 And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.
Psalms 77:7-9 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

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 88:14

Lord, why castest thou off my soul?.... Here begins his prayer, which he determined to present early in the morning, and consists of expostulations, and a representation of his distressed case: this shows that he was under soul desertion, and which was what so greatly afflicted him; imagining that his soul was cast off by the Lord, and had no more share in his affection, and was no more under his care, and in his sight: such expostulations of the saints, the church, and people of God, in a like case, are elsewhere met with, Psalm 43:3 and may be applied to Christ, when his soul was exceeding sorrowful unto death, and was made an offering for sin; and particularly when he was forsaken by his…

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John Calvin on Psalms 88:14–end

Psalm 88:14-18 14. Wherefore, O Jehovah! wilt thou reject my soul? and hide thy face from me? 15. I am afflicted, and ready to die from my youth; I have suffered thy terrors by doubting. 16. Thy wraths have passed over me: thy terrors have cut me off. 17. They have daily encompassed me like waters: they have surrounded me together. 18. Thou hast put far from me friend and companion: and my acquaintances are darkness. [517] 14. Wherefore, O Jehovah! wilt thou reject my soul? These lamentations at first sight would seem to indicate a state of mind in which sorrow without any consolation prevailed; but they contain in them tacit prayers. The Psalmist does not proudly enter into debate with Go…

The Church Fathers

"Why, O Lord, dost thou repel my prayer," that this cup should not pass from me?
— Jerome, Homily 65, on Psalm 87 (Alternate Series)

But that those prayers, the blessings of which surpass all words, may be more fervent and more constant, the gift that shall last unto eternity is deferred, while transitory evils are allowed to thicken. And so it follows: "Lord, why have You cast off my prayer?" [Psalm 88:14], which may be compared with another Psalm: "My God, My God, look upon me; why have You forsaken me?" The reason is made matter of question, not as if the wisdom of God were blamed as doing so without a cause; and so here. "Lord, why have You cast off my prayer?" But if this cause be attended to carefully, it will be found indicated above; for it is with the view that the prayers of the Saints are, as it were, repelled by the delay of so great a blessing, and by the adversity they encounter in the troubles of life, that the flame, thus fanned, may burst into a brighter blaze.
— 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

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…

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 88:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 88:10–end

John Gill on Psalms 88:14

John Calvin on Psalms 88:14–end

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 88:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 88:10–end

John Gill on Psalms 88:14

John Calvin on Psalms 88:14–end

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 88:13–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 88:13-17

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 88:14