Psalms 88:4
in Psalms 88I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no help,
KJV
I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
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This verse in Psalms 88
Commentary
8 notes on this verse"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."
This site's exposition
full of troubles
on Psalms 88:3-7
Verse 3 puts him at the edge of Sheol, and verse 6 has God laying him in the lowest Pit. Forsaken among the dead in verse 5 renders chophshi, the Hebrew word for a slave released from service. The wrath and the waves of verse 7 are God's own.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
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."
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
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, Isa 53:
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
I am counted with them that go down into the pit. My weakness is so great that both by myself and others I am considered as good as dead. If those about me have not ordered my coffin they have at least conversed about my sepulchre, discussed my estate, and reckoned their share of it. Many a man has been buried before he was dead, and the only mourning over him has been because he refused to fulfil the greedy expectations of his hypocritical relatives by going down to the pit at once.
I am counted with them that go down into the pit. My weakness is so great that both by myself and others I am considered as good as dead. If those about me have not ordered my coffin they have at least conversed about my sepulchre, discussed my estate, and reckoned their share of it. Many a man has been buried before he was dead, and the only mourning over him has been because he refused to fulfil the greedy expectations of his hypocritical relatives by going down to the pit at once. It has come to this with some afflicted believers, that their hungry heirs think they have lived too long. I am as a mat, that hath no strength. I have but the name to live; my constitution is broken up; I can scarce crawl about my sick room, my mind is even weaker than my body, and my faith weakest of all. The sons and daughters of sorrow will need but little explanation of these sentences, they are to such tried ones as household words.
I am counted with them, etc. - I am as good as dead; nearly destitute of life and hope.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I am counted with them that go down into the pit - I am so near to death that I may be reckoned already as among the dead. It is so manifest to others that I must die - that my disease is mortal - that they already speak of me as dead. The word “pit” here means the grave - the same as Sheol in the previous verse. It means properly (1) a pit, (2) a cistern, Gen 37:20, (3) a prison or dungeon, Isa 24:22, (4) the grave, Psa 28:1; Psa 30:4; Isa 38:18. I am as a man that hath no strength - Who has no power to resist disease, no vigor of constitution remaining; who must die.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נֶ֭חְשַׁבְתִּי | nechshavti | I am reckoned | H2803 → | 124 times |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| י֣וֹרְדֵי | yordei | [those who] go down of | H3381 → | 381 times |
| ב֑וֹר | vor | [the] pit | H953 → | 66 times |
| הָ֝יִ֗יתִי | hayiti | I am | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כְּגֶ֣בֶר | kegever | like a man | H1397 → | 65 times |
| אֵֽין־ | ʾein- | [whom] there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| אֱיָֽל׃ | ʾeyal | [is] strength | H353 → |
נֶ֭חְשַׁבְתִּיI am reckoned
nechshavtiH2803 →124 times
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
י֣וֹרְדֵי[those who] go down of
yordeiH3381 →381 times
ב֑וֹר[the] pit
vorH953 →66 times
הָ֝יִ֗יתִיI am
hayitiH1961 →3559 times
כְּגֶ֣בֶרlike a man
kegeverH1397 →65 times
אֵֽין־[whom] there not
ʾein-H369 →789 times
אֱיָֽל׃[is] strength
ʾeyalH353 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 28:1To You, O LORD, I call; be not deaf to me, O my Rock. For if You remain silent, I will be like those descending to the Pit.
it leads to
- Psalms 88:4–6
I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 143:7
Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
- Psalms 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
- Psalms 88:4–6
Through
2 Corinthians 1:9Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 3:5
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.
- 2 Corinthians 4:7
Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.
- Hebrews 11:19
Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.
- 2 Corinthians 12:7–10
or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
- 2 Corinthians 3:5
Through
Psalms 143:7Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
it leads to
- Psalms 69:17
Hide not Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me quickly!
- Psalms 69:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 88; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Jerome, Homily 65, on Psalm 87 (Alternate Series); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).