Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, September 22nd, 2024
the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
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Read the Bible

New Living Translation

Psalms 88:5

They have left me among the dead, and I lie like a corpse in a grave. I am forgotten, cut off from your care.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Dead, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Sheol;   Soul;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Grave;   Pit;   Sheol;   Spirituality;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Fall;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ezrahite;   Free;   Heman;   Korah, Korahites;   Prayer;   Priests and Levites;   Psalms;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Mahalath;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Korah;   Psalms the book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Decease, in the Old Testament and Apocyphra;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Sheol;  

Parallel Translations

Legacy Standard Bible
Released among the dead,Like the slain who lie in the grave,Whom You remember no more,And they are cut off from Your hand.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Forsaken among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom You remember no more, And they are cut off from Your hand.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I am free among the dead: like such as beyng kylled lye in a graue, whom thou remembrest no more, and are cut away from thy hande.
Darby Translation
Prostrate among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave; whom thou rememberest no more, and who are cut off from thy hand.
New King James Version
Adrift among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom You remember no more, And who are cut off from Your hand.
Literal Translation
free among the dead, as pierced ones lying in the grave, whom You remember no more; yea by Your hand they are cut off.
Easy-to-Read Version
Look for me among the dead, like a body in the grave. I am one of those you have forgotten, cut off from you and your care.
World English Bible
Set apart among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your hand.
King James Version (1611)
Free among the dead, like the slaine that lie in the graue, whom thou remembrest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
King James Version
Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thou hast layed me in the lowest pytte, in ye darcknesse and in the depe.
Amplified Bible
Cast away [from the living] and abandoned among the dead, Like the slain who lie in a [nameless] grave, Whom You no longer remember, And they are cut off from Your hand.
American Standard Version
Cast off among the dead, Like the slain that lie in the grave, Whom thou rememberest no more, And they are cut off from thy hand.
Bible in Basic English
My soul is among the dead, like those in the underworld, to whom you give no more thought; for they are cut off from your care.
Update Bible Version
Cast off among the dead, Like the slain that lie in the grave, Whom you remember no more, And they are cut off from your hand.
Webster's Bible Translation
Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
New English Translation
adrift among the dead, like corpses lying in the grave, whom you remember no more, and who are cut off from your power.
Contemporary English Version
I am no better off than those in the grave, those you have forgotten and no longer help.
Complete Jewish Bible
I am counted among those going down to the pit, like a man who is beyond help,
Geneva Bible (1587)
Free among the dead, like the slaine lying in the graue, whome thou remembrest no more, and they are cut off from thine hand.
George Lamsa Translation
Like a nobleman abandoned among the dead, like the slain that lie down in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more; they are lost to thee.
Hebrew Names Version
Set apart among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your hand.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
I am counted with them that go down into the pit; I am become as a man that hath no help;
New Life Bible
I am left among the dead, like those who have been killed and lie in the grave, whom You remember no more. They are cut off from Your help.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
free among the dead, as the slain ones cast out, who sleep in the tomb; whom thou rememberest no more; and they are rejected from thy hand.
English Revised Version
Cast off among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more; and they are cut off from thy hand.
Berean Standard Bible
I am forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, who are cut off from Your care.
New Revised Standard
like those forsaken among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Among the dead, is my couch, - Like the slain that lie in the grave, Where thou rememberest them no more, Yea, they, from thy hand, are cut off;
Douay-Rheims Bible
(87-6) Free among the dead. Like the slain sleeping in the sepulchres, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
Lexham English Bible
set free among the dead, like the slain lying in the grave, whom you no longer remember, even those cut off from your hand.
English Standard Version
like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.
New American Standard Bible
Abandoned among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom You no longer remember, And they are cut off from Your hand.
New Century Version
I have been left as dead, like a body lying in a grave whom you don't remember anymore, cut off from your care.
Good News Translation
I am abandoned among the dead; I am like the slain lying in their graves, those you have forgotten completely, who are beyond your help.
Christian Standard Bible®
abandoned among the dead. I am like the slain lying in the grave, whom You no longer remember, and who are cut off from Your care.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and fre among deed men. As men woundid slepinge in sepulcris, of whiche men noon is myndeful aftir; and thei ben put awei fro thin hond.
Young's Literal Translation
Among the dead -- free, As pierced ones lying in the grave, Whom Thou hast not remembered any more, Yea, they by Thy hand have been cut off.
Revised Standard Version
like one forsaken among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom thou dost remember no more, for they are cut off from thy hand.

Contextual Overview

1

For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah. A song to be sung to the tune "The Suffering of Affliction." A psalm of Heman the Ezrahite.

O Lord , God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day. I come to you at night. 2 Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry. 3 For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near. 4 I am as good as dead, like a strong man with no strength left. 5 They have left me among the dead, and I lie like a corpse in a grave. I am forgotten, cut off from your care. 6 You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest depths. 7 Your anger weighs me down; with wave after wave you have engulfed me. Interlude 8 You have driven my friends away by making me repulsive to them. I am in a trap with no way of escape. 9 My eyes are blinded by my tears. Each day I beg for your help, O Lord ; I lift my hands to you for mercy.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Free: Isaiah 14:9-12, Isaiah 38:10-12, Ezekiel 32:18-32

whom: Psalms 136:23, Genesis 8:1, Genesis 19:29

cut: Psalms 88:16, Psalms 31:22, Job 6:9, Job 11:10, Isaiah 53:8

from thy hand: or, by thy hand

Reciprocal: Numbers 12:12 - as one dead Psalms 31:12 - forgotten Psalms 88:12 - in the land Lamentations 3:6 - in dark Ezekiel 28:8 - shall bring Jonah 2:3 - thou Romans 7:24 - the body of this

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Free among the dead,.... If he was a freeman, it was only among the dead, not among the living; if he was free of any city, it was of the city of the dead; he looked upon himself as a dead man, as one belonging to the state of the dead, who are free from all relations, and from all business and labour, and removed from all company and society; he thought himself quite neglected, of whom there was no more care and notice taken than of a dead man:

like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more; in a providential way, as in life, to clothe them, and feed them, and protect and preserve them; in which sense God is said to be mindful of men, Psalms 8:4, who when dead have no need to be minded, and remembered in such a manner; otherwise God does remember the dead, and takes care of their dust, and will raise them again; and especially he remembers his own people, those that sleep in Jesus, who will be thought of in the resurrection morn, and will be raised first, and brought with Christ; see Job 14:13,

and they are cut off from thy hand; that is, the slain that lie in the grave, the dead that are buried there; these are cut off from the hand of Providence, they needing no supplies from thence as in the time of life. The Targum is,

"and they are separated from the face of thy majesty.''

or "they are cut off by thine hand" i; by the immediate hand of God, in a judicial way; so Christ in his death was like one of these, he was cut off in a judicial way, not for his own sins, but for the transgressions of his people, Isaiah 53:8.

i מידך "manu tua", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Amama.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Free among the dead - Luther renders this, “I lie forgotten among the dead.” DeWette renders it, “Pertaining to the dead - (den Todten angehorend) - stricken down, like the slain, I lie in the grave,” and explains it as meaning, “I am as good as dead.” The word rendered “free” - חפשׁי chophshı̂y - means properly, according to Gesenius (Lexicon),

(1) prostrate, weak, feeble;

(2) free, as opposed to a slave or a captive;

(3) free from public taxes or burdens.

The word is translated “free” in Exodus 21:2, Exodus 21:5,Exodus 21:26-27; Deuteronomy 15:12-13, Deuteronomy 15:18; 1 Samuel 17:25; Job 3:19; Job 39:5; Isaiah 58:6; Jeremiah 34:9-11, Jeremiah 34:14; and at liberty in Jeremiah 34:16. It occurs nowhere else except in this verse. In all these places (except in 1 Samuel 17:25, where it refers to a house or family made free, and Job 39:5, where it refers to the freedom of the wild ass), it denotes the freedom of one who had been a servant or slave. In Job 3:19, it has reference to the grave, and to the fact that the grave delivers a slave or servant from obligation to his master: “And the servant is free from his master.” This is the idea, I apprehend, here. It is not, as DeWette supposes, that he was weak and feeble, as the spirits of the departed are represented to be (compare the notes at Isaiah 14:9-11), but that the dead are made free from the burdens, the toils, the calamities, the servitudes of life; that they are like those who are emancipated from bondage (compare Job 7:1-2; Job 14:6); that death comes to discharge them, or to set them at liberty. So the psalmist applies the expression here to himself, as if he had already reached that point; as if it were so certain that he must die that he could speak of it as if it had occurred; as if he were actually in the condition of the dead. The idea is that he was to all appearance near the grave, and that there was no hope of his recovery. It is not here, however, the idea of release or emancipation which was mainly before his mind, or any idea of consolation as from that, but it is the idea of death - of hopeless disease that must end in death. This he expresses in the usual language; but it is evident that he did not admit any comfort into his mind from the idea of freedom in the grave.

Like the slain that lie in the grave - When slain in battle. They are free from the perils and the toils of life; they are emancipated from its cares and dangers. Death is freedom; and it is possible to derive solace from that idea of death, as Job did Job 3:19; but the psalmist here, as remarked above, did not so admit that idea into his mind as to be comforted by it.

Whom thou rememberest no more - As if they were forgotten by thee; as if they were no longer the object of thy care. They are suffered to lie and waste away, with no care on thy part to restore them to life, or to preserve them from offensiveness and decay. So the great, the beautiful, and the good lie neglected in the grave.

And they are cut off from thy hand - Margin, “by.” The Hebrew is literally “from thy hand,” but still the idea is that it was by the agency of God. They had been cut down, and were forgotten - as if God regarded them no more. So we shall all moulder in the grave - in that deep, dark, cold, silent, repulsive abode, as if even God had forgotten us.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 88:5. Free among the dead — במתים צפשי bammethim chophshi, I rather think, means stripped among the dead. Both the fourth and fifth verses seem to allude to a field of battle: the slain and the wounded, are found scattered over the plain; the spoilers come among them, and strip, not only the dead, but those also who appear to be mortally wounded, and cannot recover, and are so feeble as not to be able to resist. Hence the psalmist says, "I am counted with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength," Psalms 88:4. And I am stripped among the dead, like the mortally wounded (חללים chalalim) that lie in the grave. "Free among the dead," inter mortuos liber, has been applied by the fathers to our Lord's voluntary death: all others were obliged to die, he alone gave up his life, and could take it again, John 10:18. He went into the grave, and came out when he chose. The dead are bound in the grave; he was free, and not obliged to continue in that state as they were.

They are cut off from thy hand. — An allusion to the roll in which the general has the names of all that compose his army under their respective officers. And when one is killed, he is erased from this register, and remembered no more, as belonging to the army; but his name is entered among those who are dead, in a separate book. This latter is termed the black book, or the book of death; the other is called the book of life, or the book where the living are enrolled. From this circumstance, expressed in different parts of the sacred writings, the doctrine of unconditional reprobation and election has been derived. How wonderful!


 
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