Psalms 88:4

I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
counted	נֶ֭חְשַׁבְתִּי Nech.shav.ti	H2803	properly · verb, niphal perfect, 1st person common singular
down	י֣וֹרְדֵי Yor.dei	H3381	to descend (literally · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
pit	ב֑וֹר Vor	H953	a pit hole (especially one used as a cistern or a priso… · noun, common masculine singular absolute
man	כְּגֶ֣בֶר ke.Ge.ver	H1397	properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
strength	אֱיָֽל 'e.Yal	H353	strength · noun, common masculine 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

Psalms 28:1 Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
2 Corinthians 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
Psalms 31:12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
Psalms 143:7 Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
Isaiah 38:17-18 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all m…
Job 17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
Psalms 30:9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
2 Corinthians 13:4 For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 88:1-9

It should seem, by the titles of this and the following psalm, that Heman was the penman of the one and Ethan of the other. There were two, of these names, who were sons of Zerah the son of Judah, Ch1 2:4, Ch1 2:6. There were two others famed for wisdom, Kg1 4:31, where, to magnify Solomon's wisdom, he is said to be wiser than Heman and Ethan. Whether the Heman and Ethan who were Levites and precentors in the songs of Zion were the same we are not sure, nor which of these, nor whether any of these, were the penmen of these psalms. There was a Heman that was one of the chief singers, who is called the king's seer, or prophet, in the words of God (Ch1 25:5); it is probable that this also was a…

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John Gill on Psalms 88:4

I am counted with them that go down into the pit,.... With the dead, with them that are worthy of death, with malefactors that are judicially put to death, and are not laid in a common grave, but put into a pit together: thus Christ was reckoned and accounted of by the Jews; the sanhedrim counted him worthy of death; and the common people cried out Crucify him; and they did crucify him between two malefactors; and so he was numbered or counted with transgressors, and as one of them, Isaiah 53:3. I am as a man that hath no strength; for his "strength" was "dried up like a potsherd", Psalm 22:15, though he was the mighty God, and, as man, was made strong by the Lord for himself.

John Calvin on Psalms 88:1-5

Psalm 88:1-5 1. O Jehovah! God of my salvation! I cry day and night before thee. 2. Let my prayer come into thy presence: incline thy ear to my cry; 3. For my soul is filled with troubles; and my life is drawing near to the grave. 4. I am numbered with them that go down to the pit: I have been as a man who hath no strength: 5. Free among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more, and who are cut off from thy hand. 1 O Jehovah! God of my salvation! Let me call upon you particularly to notice what I have just now stated, that although the prophet simply, and without hyperbole, recites the agony which he suffered from the greatness of his sorrows, yet his pu…

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The Church Fathers

Lastly, the very thing said by our Saviour on the Cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," is expressed in this Psalm below, "I am counted as one of them that go down into the pit": by them who knew not what they were doing, when they imagined that He died like other men, subjected to necessity, and overcome by it. The word "pit" is used for the depth of woe or of Hell. "I have been as a man that hath no help."
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 88

"I am counted among them that go down into the pit." This my murderers supposed: that I, going down like the rest of men into the prison of the underworld, was to be held back in the lower pit; not knowing that I had gone down for this reason, that I might rather draw out with me those who were held fast in that very place. "I am become as a man without help, free among the dead." He did not say, "I am become without help," but "I am become as though without help," because He had the Father as helper. "Free among the dead." Other men are held in hell by the bonds of sins: "There is no man without sin, not even if his life be of one day." For we are all held in transgression: and therefore whoever goes down into hell is held by the law of hell. "For everyone is bound by the bonds of his own sins." I therefore was free by nature, but for a little while I became as it were a debtor because of the sins of men.
— Jerome, Homily 65, on Psalm 87 (Alternate Series)

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 88:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 88:1-9

John Gill on Psalms 88:4

John Calvin on Psalms 88:1-5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 88:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 88:1-9

John Gill on Psalms 88:4

John Calvin on Psalms 88:1-5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 88:1-7

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 88:1-5

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 88:4