Psalms 88:6

6 Thou hast put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark and deep.

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 reckoned among those who go down to the Pit; I am a man who has no strength,

5 like one forsaken among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom thou dost remember no more, for they are cut off from thy hand.

6 Thou hast put me in the depths of the Pit, in the regions dark and deep.

7 Thy wrath lies heavy upon me, and thou dost overwhelm me with all thy waves. [Selah]

8 Thou hast caused my companions to shun me; thou hast made me a thing of horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape;