Psalms 88:6

6 You plunged me into the bottom of the pit, into dark places, into the depths.

Psalms 88:6 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 88:6

Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit
The Targum interprets it of

``captivity which was like unto the lowest pit;''

and so Jarchi and Kimchi. Some understand it of a prison or dungeon, into which the psalmist was put; it may be interpreted of the pit of the grave, into which Christ was laid; though he continued in it not so long as to see corruption; from that prison and judgment he was quickly taken, ( Psalms 16:10 ) ( Isaiah 53:8 ) , "in darkness"; both corporeal and spiritual, ( Matthew 27:45 Matthew 27:46 ) , and it is in the Hebrew text "in darknesses" ^F11, denoting both:

in the deeps;
in the deep waters of affliction, sorrows, and sufferings; see ( Psalms 69:1 Psalms 69:2 ) . The allusion is to a dark and deep pit, under ground, such as in the eastern countries they used to put their captives and prisoners into in the night, and take them out in the morning; and which custom continues still among the Turks. Leo Africanus ^F12 says he has seen three thousand Christian captives together, clothed in a woollen sack, and chained to one another; and in the night put into pits or ditches under ground; see ( Zechariah 9:11 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 (Mykvxmb) "in loca tenebrosa", Tigurine version, Musculus; "in tenebrosissimis", Junius & Tremellius; "in densis tenebris", Piscator; "in caligines, vel obscuritates", Gejerus.
F12 Descriptio Africae, l. 3. p. 413.

Psalms 88:6 In-Context

4 I am counted among those going down to the pit, like a man who is beyond help,

5 left by myself among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave -you no longer remember them; they are cut off from your care.

6 You plunged me into the bottom of the pit, into dark places, into the depths.

7 Your wrath lies heavily on me; your waves crashing over me keep me down. (Selah)

8 You separated me from my close friends, made me repulsive to them; I am caged in, with no escape;