Psalm 88 is the 88th psalm from the

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

. According to the title, it is a "psalm of the sons of Korah" as well as a "

maskil The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Eur ...

of Heman the Ezrahite". In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible, and in its Latin translation, the Vulgate, this psalm is ''Psalm 87''.

Portrayal

It is described ''Psalm for the sons of Korah'', a prayer for mercy and deliverance, and a '' Maschil''. According to Martin Marty, a professor of church history at the University of Chicago, Psalm 88 is "a wintry landscape of unrelieved bleakness". Psalm 88 ends by saying: Indeed, in Hebrew, the last word of the psalm is "darkness".

Uses

Judaism

Psalm 88 is recited on

Hoshana Rabbah Hoshana Rabbah ( arc, הוֹשַׁעְנָא רַבָּא, , Great Hoshana/Supplication) is the seventh day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the 21st day of the month of Tishrei. This day is marked by a special synagogue service, the Hoshana R ...

Eastern Orthodox Church and Catholic Church

* This psalm is part of the Six Psalms (Psalms 3, 38, 63, 88, 103 and 143) that constitute the heart of the '' orthros'', that is to say Matins, in the

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

and Catholic churches of the

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople. Th ...

. * In the Liturgy of the Hours revised after Vatican II, the psalm is said on Fridays as part of

compline Compline ( ), also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer service (or office) of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times. The English wo ...

Commentary

It is often assumed that the Psalm is a ''sick Psalm''. The disease which laid low the psalmist could have been leprosy or some other unclean illness. Others see rather than a specific disease, a more general calamity. By contrast, Hermann Gunkel contends that this psalm involves accusations against the Psalmist, regarding his sins mentioned. Neale and Littledale find it "stands alone in all the Psalter for the unrelieved gloom, the hopeless sorrow of its tone. Even the very saddest of the others, and the Lamentations themselves, admit some variations of key, some strains of hopefulness; here only all is darkness to the close."Neale. A Commentary on the Psalms. Vol. 3. 1871. Reprint. London: Forgotten Books, 2013. 90-1.

Musical settings

* Marc-Antoine Charpentier compose around 1690 one "''Domine Deus salutis meae"'' , H.207 for soloists, chorus, flutes, strings, and continuo.

References

External links

* in Hebrew and English - Mechon-mamre * King James Bible - Wikisource {{Psalms 088