Contemplating, For Heman the Ezrahite
1 O Yahweh, Elohim of my salvation, By day I cry out, Even in the night in front of You. 2 May my prayer come before You; Stretch out Your ear to my appeal. 3 For my soul is surfeited with perils, And my life touches close to the unseen. 4 I am reckoned with descenders to the crypt; I become like a master who is without stamina, 5 With the dead set free, Like the slain who lie in a burying ground, Whom You do not remember any more, For they are severed from Your hand. 6 You have set me down in the nether crypt, In utter darkness, in shadowy depths; 7 Your fury bears down upon me, And You humble me with all Your breakers. 8 You have taken my close acquaintances far from me; You have set me down as abhorrent to them; Being shut up, I cannot go forth. 9 My eye, it pines away with humiliation; I call on You, O Yahweh, throughout every day; I spread out my palms to You. 10 Would You perform marvelous works for the dead? Or do Rephaim arise and acclaim You? 11 Is Your benignity recounted in the tomb, Your faithfulness in destruction? 12 Are Your marvelous works known in darkness, And Your righteousness in the land of oblivion? 13 As for me, I implore You, O Yahweh; In the morning, my prayer goes out before You. 14 Why, O Yahweh, are You casting off my soul And concealing Your face from me? 15 From my youth have I been humbled and wearied unto death; I have borne the dread of You; I am distracted. 16 Your hot anger has passed upon me; Your frightenings have effaced me. 17 They surround me like waters the entire day; They encompass about me altogether. 18 You have taken far from me loved one and associate; My close acquaintances are darkness to me.