Psalm 88

The 88th Psalm (according to Greek counting the 87th) is a psalm of the Korah sons and belongs to the series of "Lamentations of an Individual". It is about the loneliness and abandonment of God of the psalmist as well as about the turning away from his friends.

structure

A possible structure of the psalm could look like this:

1. Part 1:
   1. Verse 2f: Salutation
   2. Verses 4-10: Lament
2. Part 2:
   1. Verse 10b: Salutation
   2. Verses 11-13: Motives for divine intervention
3. Part 3:
   1. Verse 14: salutation
   2. Verses 15-19: Lament

interpretation

It is often assumed that the psalm is a sick psalm. The sickness that struck down those who prayed in the Psalm might be B. can be interpreted as leprosy . Others do not see it as a specific disease, but as a general need.

Hermann Gunkel, on the other hand, asserts that the psalm neither accuses the psalmist of "grim" enemies, nor does it mention his sins.

Liturgical use

• In the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours , Psalm 88 is part of the Compline (night prayer) on Friday.

literature

• Juliane Schlegel: Psalm 88 as a touchstone of exegesis 2005.

Web links

• Psalm 88 in the standard translation , the Luther Bible and other translations from bibleserver.com
• Psalm 88 in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) on bibelwissenschaft.de
• Public domain sheet music of settings for Psalm 88 in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Hermann Gunkel : Die Psalmen ⁶ 1986, p. 382f.
2. ↑ z. B. Klaus Seybold: The prayer of the sick in the Old Testament 1973, p. 169.
3. ↑ Willy Staerk: Lyrik ² 1920.
4. ^ Rudolf Kittel: Psalms ^3.4 1921.
5. ^ Emil Kautzsch: The Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament II ⁴ 1923, p. 113ff.