Psalm 88 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 88:7, 88:9, 88:11, 88:16, 88:19
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Psalm 88
Prayer from the deepest pit
Verse 88:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:1] A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.
For the director; upon Mahalath Leannoth.
A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:1] A song of a psalm for the sons of Korah.
For the end; concerning Maeleth, for answering.
Of understanding; of Heman the Israelite.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew retains the uncertain musical phrase and Ezrahite designation; Greek transliterates Maeleth, interprets answering and understanding, and calls Heman an Israelite. Rabbinic: Rashi on 88:1 interprets the phrase through the lovesick and afflicted community in exile; that interpretation is not made the title's literal wording (RASHI-PS88).
Verse 88:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:2] YHWH, God of my salvation,
by day I cry out, at night before You.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:2] Lord, God of my salvation,
by day I cried out, and by night before You.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The compressed cry by day and night corresponds; Greek supplies the conjunction.
Verse 88:3 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:3] Let my prayer come before You;
incline Your ear to my cry.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:3] Let my prayer enter before You;
incline Your ear to my petition, Lord.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek includes the additional final address Lord; cry and petition also differ in emphasis.
Verse 88:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:4] For my soul is sated with troubles,
and my life has reached Sheol.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:4] For my soul was filled with evils,
and my life drew near Hades.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew says life reached Sheol; Greek says it approached Hades. The saturated suffering corresponds.
Verse 88:5 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:5] I am counted with those who go down to the pit;
I have become like a man without strength,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:5] I was counted with those descending into a pit;
I became like a person without help,
free among the dead,
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek includes “free among the dead” in this unit, whereas Hebrew places it at the start of the next. Strength differs from help. The phrase occurs once per column, in its actual source position. Saints: Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 88 §4, interprets freedom among the dead through Christ's voluntary death and power to take up His life (AUG-PS88).
Verse 88:6 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:6] free among the dead,
like the slain lying in a grave,
whom You remember no more,
and who are cut off from Your hand.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:6] like wounded people cast down, sleeping in a grave,
whom You remembered no more,
and who were thrust away from Your hand.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: The Hebrew opening corresponds to the preceding Greek unit. Here Hebrew slain persons differ from Greek wounded persons who have been cast down; severance differs from rejection. Rabbinic: Rashi on 88:6 explains the dead's freedom as freedom from this world (RASHI-PS88).
Verse 88:7 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:7] You put me in the lowest pit,
in dark places, in depths.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:7] They put me in the lowest pit,
in dark places and in death's shadow.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew directly makes God the agent of placing the speaker; Greek has an unnamed plural they. Depths also become death's shadow. The change of agent is not harmonized.
Verse 88:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:8] Your wrath has rested heavily on me;
with all Your breakers You have afflicted me.
Selah.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:8] Your fury rested firmly upon me,
and You brought all Your surges upon me.
Diapsalma.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Both portray divine wrath as overwhelming; Hebrew explicitly says afflicted, Greek brought surges upon. Greek meteōrismoi can emphasize tossings or upheavals; the wave sense is provisional in this context.
Verse 88:9 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:9] You have put my acquaintances far from me;
You have made me an object of abomination to them.
I am shut in and cannot go out.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:9] You removed my acquaintances far from me;
they made me an abomination to themselves.
I was handed over and did not go out.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Both make God remove acquaintances, but Hebrew makes God cause their abhorrence while Greek makes them its agents. Hebrew confinement also differs from Greek being handed over.
Verse 88:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:10] My eye wastes away from affliction.
I call to You, YHWH, every day;
I spread my palms toward You.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:10] My eyes grew weak from poverty.
I cried to You, Lord, all day;
I spread my hands toward You:
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew has a singular eye, affliction, and every day; Greek plural eyes, poverty, and the whole day. Both retain outspread hands.
Verse 88:11 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:11] Will You work a wonder for the dead?
Will the shades rise and thank You?
Selah.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:11] Surely You will not work wonders for the dead?
Or will physicians raise them, and will they give You thanks?
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew rephaim are rendered shades who rise; Greek iatroi are physicians who raise others. This changes the participants and agency of revival. Only Hebrew has Selah here. Saints: Augustine §9 interprets the physicians as ministers whose work cannot give spiritual life apart from divine grace; his account of Hebrew wording is reported reception, not an apparatus consulted for this draft (AUG-PS88).
Verse 88:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:12] Will Your steadfast love be recounted in the grave,
Your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:12] Surely no one will recount Your mercy in a grave
and Your truth in destruction?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew uses a passive question and the designation Abaddon; Greek introduces an indefinite person and renders the location as destruction.
Verse 88:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:13] Will Your wonder be known in darkness,
and Your righteousness in a land of forgetfulness?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:13] Surely Your wonders will not be known in darkness,
or Your righteousness in a forgotten land?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew has singular wonder and a land of forgetfulness; Greek plural wonders and a land that has been forgotten. Both question recognition there.
Verse 88:14 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:14] But I have cried to You for help, YHWH;
in the morning my prayer will meet You.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:14] And I cried to You, Lord,
and in the morning my prayer will reach You first.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The continued cry and morning prayer correspond; Greek emphasizes reaching first.
Verse 88:15 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:15] Why, YHWH, do You reject my soul
and hide Your face from me?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:15] Why, Lord, do You thrust away my soul
and turn Your face away from me?
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both lament rejection, with concealment and turning away as corresponding but distinct images.
Verse 88:16 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:16] I am afflicted and dying from youth;
I have borne Your terrors; I am bewildered.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:16] I am poor and in toils from my youth;
but after being raised up, I was humbled and left helpless.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew describes dying and bearing divine terrors, with the rare aphunah provisionally bewilderment. Greek instead recounts being raised, humbled and made helpless. Rabbinic: Rashi on 88:16 offers a different construal of the Hebrew through sudden death and dread firmly based within the speaker; neither uncertain expression is treated as settled (RASHI-PS88).
Verse 88:17 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:17] Your burning angers passed over me;
Your terrors have destroyed me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:17] Your wraths passed over me,
and Your threats utterly troubled me;
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew depicts destruction by terrors; Greek severe disturbance by threats. Both preserve plural manifestations of wrath.
Verse 88:18 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:18] They surrounded me like water all day;
together they encircled me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:18] they encircled me like water all day;
together they closed around me.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The surrounding threats or terrors are likened to water throughout the day.
Verse 88:19 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[88:19] You have put lover and companion far from me;
my acquaintances are darkness.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[87:19] You removed friend and neighbor far from me,
and my acquaintances because of misery.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew ends with the compressed acquaintances/darkness clause; Greek instead connects their removal with misery. Rashi on 88:19 takes the Hebrew as being withheld from acquaintances; that alternative is recorded without silently eliminating the final darkness image (RASHI-PS88).