an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
mourneth
דָאֲבָ֗הda.'a.Vah
H1669
to pine · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
affliction
עֹ֥נִי'O.ni
H6040
depression · noun, common masculine singular absolute
LORD
יְהוָ֣הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
called
קְרָאתִ֣יךָke.ra.Ti.cha
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
daily
י֑וֹםYom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
out
שִׁטַּ֖חְתִּיshi.Tach.ti
H7849
to expand · verb, piel perfect, 1st person common singular
hands
כַפָּֽיkha.Pai
H3709
the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix
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 11:13 If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;
Psalms 38:10 My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
Psalms 86:3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.
Psalms 143:6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.
Psalms 42:3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
Job 16:20 My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
Job 17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
Psalms 6:7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
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…
Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction,.... Or dropped tears, as the Targum, by which grief was vented; see Psalm 6:7.
Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee; in prayer, as the Targum adds, this being a prayer gesture: notwithstanding his troubles continued and increased, he did not leave off praying, though he was not immediately heard and answered, which is what is tacitly complained of, as in Psalm 22:2. Christ, in his troubles in the garden, and on the cross, prayed for himself, for divine support and assistance, as man; for his friends, disciples, and apostles, and for all that should believe in him through them; and even for his enemies.
John Calvin on Psalms 88:6-9
Psalm 88:6-9
6. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the deeps. 7. Thy indignation lieth heavy upon me; and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. 8. Thou hast removed my acquaintances from me: thou hast made me to be abhorred by them: I am shut up that I cannot go forth. 9. My eye mourneth because of my affliction; I invoke thee, O Jehovah! daily: I stretch out my hands to thee.
6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit. The Psalmist now acknowledges more distinctly, that whatever adversities he endured proceeded from the Divine hand. Nor indeed will any man sincerely betake himself to God to seek relief without a previous persuasion that it is the Divine hand wh…
"My eyes languished through poverty." I who was whole in my majesty was made weak for the sins of men.
"I have cried to thee, O Lord." Not only with the voice, but with the heart: for thus indeed we cry to the Father. "Crying in our hearts, Abba, Father." "All the day I stretched out my hands to thee." This is the testimony which the apostle in the Epistle to the Romans applied in the person of the Savior. You see that we do no violence to the psalm, but follow the authority of the apostle. For if he applied the testimony of a single verse in the person of the Lord, why should we not wish to expound the whole psalm in this way? And if we should wish to interpret it otherwise, the sense of our exposition is dissolved by this evident sentence of the apostle. If we should wish to expound the whole psalm, we seem to be making delay for ourselves, whom now the hour compels to approach with pure and unstained conscience, in the unity of peace, to the flesh of the Savior, the true Lamb, that we may be worthily filled with the heavenly bread, through Christ Jesus our Lord. To whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.
"My eyes became weak from want" [Psalm 88:9]. For what eyes are we to understand? If the eyes of the flesh in which He suffered, we do not read that His eyes became weak from want, that is, from hunger, in His Passion, as is often the case; as He was betrayed after His Supper, and crucified on the same day: if the inner eyes, how were they weakened from want, in which there was a light that could never fail? But He meant by His eyes those members in the body, of which He was Himself the head, which, as brighter and more eminent and chief above the rest, He loved. It was of this body that the Apostle was speaking, when he wrote, taking his metaphor from our own body, "If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing?" etc. [1 Corinthians 12:17-21] What he wished understood by these words, he has expressed more clearly, by adding, "Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular." [1 Corinthians 12:27] Wherefore as those eyes, that is, the holy Apostles, to whom not flesh and blood, but the Father which is in Heaven had revealed Him, so that Peter said, "You are Christ, the Son of the Living God," [Matthew 16:16] when they saw Him betrayed, and suffering such evils, saw Him not such as they wished, as He did not come forth, did not manifest Himself in His virtue and power, but still hidden in His secrecy, endured everything as a man overcome and enfeebled, they became weak for want, as if their food, their Light, had been withdrawn from them.
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…
Prayer — Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or…
Eye, The · Actions of, mentioned in scripture: Weeping — Actions of, mentioned in scripture: Weeping
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).
Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 88:8-12
The octastichs are now followed by hexastichs which belong together in pairs. The complaint concerning the alienation of his nearest relations sounds like Job 19:13., but the same strain is also frequently heard in the earlier Psalms written in times of suffering, e.g., Psa 31:9. He is forsaken by all his familiar friends (not: acquaintances, for מידּע signifies more than that), he is alone in the dungeon of wretchedness, where no one comes near him, and whence he cannot make his escape. This sounds, according to Lev. 13, very much like the complaint of a leper. The Book of Leviticus there passes over from the uncleanness attending the beginning of human life to the uncleanness of the most t…
In his second charge, the psalmist claims that God has isolated him and caused his loneliness (cp. 31:11; 38:11). Loneliness was a curse in a culture where relationships were more important than personal achievement.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 88:9
Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction. He wept his eyes out. He exhausted the lachrymal glands, he wore away the sight itself. Tears in showers are a blessing, and work our good; but in floods they become destructive and injurious. Lord, I have called daily upon thee. His tears wetted his prayers, but did not damp then fervour. He prayed still, though no answer came to dry his eyes. Nothing can make a true believer cease praying; it is a part of his nature, and pray he must. I have stretched out my hands unto thee. He used the appropriate posture of a supplicant, of h…
