Incline Your Ear to My Cry

A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director. According to Mahalath Leannoth. A [†]Maskil of Heman [†]the Ezrahite.

1O Yahweh, the God of my salvation,

I have cried out by day and throughout the night before You.

2Let my prayer come before You;

Incline Your ear to my cry of lamentation!

3For my soul has been saturated with calamities,

And my life has reached Sheol.

4I am counted among those who go down to the pit;

I am like a man without strength,

5Released among the dead,

Like the slain who lie in the grave,

Whom You remember no more,

And they are cut off from Your hand.

6You have put me in the pit far below,

In dark places, in the depths.

7Your wrath lies upon me,

And You afflict me with all Your breaking waves. [†]Selah.

8You have removed my acquaintances far from me;

You have set me as [†]an abomination to them;

I am shut up and cannot go out.

9My eye has wasted away because of affliction;

I have called upon You every day, O Yahweh;

I have spread out my [†]hands to You.

10Will You do wonders for the dead?

Will the [†]departed spirits rise and praise You? Selah.

11Will Your lovingkindness be recounted in the grave,

Your faithfulness in [†]Abaddon?

12Will Your wonders be known in the darkness?

And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13But as for me, O Yahweh, I have cried out to You for help,

And in the morning my prayer comes before You.

14O Yahweh, why do You reject my soul?

Why do You hide Your face from me?

15I have been afflicted and about to breathe my last from my youth on;

I bear Your terrors; I am [†]overcome.

16Your burning anger has passed over me;

Your horrors have [†]destroyed me.

17They have surrounded me like water all day long;

They have encompassed me altogether.

18You have removed lover and friend far from me;

My acquaintances are in darkness.