• A Prayer for Help in Despondency

  • 1 O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You.
  • 2 Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry.
  • 3 For my soul is full of troubles, And my life draws near to the grave.
  • 4 I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength,
  • 5 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.
  • 6 You have laid me in the lowest pit, In darkness, in the depths.
  • 7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah
  • 8 You have put away my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot get out;
  • 9 My eye wastes away because of affliction. Lord, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You.
  • 10 Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah
  • 11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
  • 12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
  • 13 But to You I have cried out, O Lord, And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
  • 14 Lord, why do You cast off my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me?
  • 15 I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught.
  • 16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me; Your terrors have cut me off.
  • 17 They came around me all day long like water; They engulfed me altogether.
  • 18 Loved one and friend You have put far from me, And my acquaintances into darkness.