They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me.
Parallel Translations
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They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me.
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They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
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(88-18) They came round about me like water all the day; they compassed me about together.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Psalms 88:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 22:16 For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet.
- Psalms 69:1-2 Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck! I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
- Psalms 116:3 The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.
- Job 16:12-13 I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target. His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my bile on the ground.
- Job 30:14-15 As through a wide breach they come. They roll themselves in amid the ruin. Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.
- Psalms 42:7 Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.
- Psalms 118:10-12 All the nations surrounded me, but in Yahweh’s name, I cut them off. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. In Yahweh’s name I indeed cut them off. They surrounded me like bees. They are quenched like the burning thorns. In Yahweh’s name I cut them off.
- Psalms 124:4 then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul;
- Lamentations 3:5-7 He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead. He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
- Matthew 27:39-44 Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” The robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 88:17 They came round about me daily like…
Psa 88:17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
Ver. 17. They compassed me about] As the water compasseth the earth like a girdle.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain As the waters of the sea encompass him which…
As the waters of the sea encompass him which is in the midst and bottom of it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain They came round about me daily like water,.... That…
They came round about me daily like water,.... That is, the terrors of the Lord, the sorrows of death and hell, Psa 18:4, this was the Messiah's case, when it was with him as is expressed Psa 69:1,
they compassed me about together; as waters coming from many places, from all quarters, meet together, and together surround a person or place in such circumstances was Christ, when the bulls of Bashan beset him around, and the assembly of the wicked enclosed him, and innumerable evils encompassed him about, Psa 22:12.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Water - As the waters of the sea encompass…
Water - As the waters of the sea encompass him who is in the midst of it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 17. They came round about me daily like…
Verse 17. They came round about me daily like water] Besides his spiritual conflicts, he had many enemies to grapple with. The waves of God's displeasure broke over him, and his enemies came around him like water, increasing more and more, rising higher and higher, till he was at last on the point of being submerged in the flood.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain They came round about me daily like water -…
They came round about me daily like water - Margin, “as in” Hebrew, all the day. That is, his troubles seemed to be like the waves of the sea cohnstantly breaking on the shore. See Psa 42:7.
They compassed me about together - My troubles did not come singly, so that I could meet them one at a time, but they seemed to have banded themselves together; they all came upon me at once.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 17. They came round… like water—The figure again changes.…
17. They came round… like water—The figure again changes. The psalmist is enclosed in a flood, and whelmed, as in Psa_88:6-7
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. They have surrounded me like water all the…
17. They have surrounded me like water all the day long;
They have encompassed me about together.
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The figure of Psa_88:16 is continued. The flood of calamity threatens to engulf him, and there is none (Psa_88:18) to stretch out a helping hand to the drowning man.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) They—i.e., the terrors or horrors, now likened to…
(17) They—i.e., the terrors or horrors, now likened to a flood, a figure of frequent occurrence. (See Psa_18:16, &c.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain They came round about me daily like water. God"s…
They came round about me daily like water. God"s terrors encompass the psalmist "daily," or "all day long," like water; i.e. like an overwhelming flood (compare the first clause of ver. 16). They compassed me about together; or, "they compass me about in a mass."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 17. They came round about me daily like…
Ver. 17. They came round about me daily like water. My troubles, and thy chastisement poured in upon me, penetrating everywhere, and drowning all. Such is the permeating and pervading power of spiritual distress, there is no shutting it out; it soaks into the soul like the dew into Gideon's fleece; it sucks the spirit down as the quicksand swallows the ship; it overwhelms it as the deluge submerged the green earth.
They compassed me about together. Griefs hemmed him in. He was like the deer in the hunt, when the dogs are all around and at his throat. Poor soul! and yet he was a man greatly beloved of heaven!
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Ver. 17. Like water; not merely because it drowns, but because it searches every crevice, goes to the very bottom, and makes its way on all sides when once it obtains an entrance, thus fitly denoting the penetrating force of temptation and trouble. Hugo Cardinalis.
Psalms 88:18*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 They surround me like water all the day long
They surround me like water all the day long
The writer compares God's "angry actions" and "terrifying deeds" to a flood of water. AT: "All day long they threaten to destroy me like a flood" (See: Simile)
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They
The word "They" refers to God's "angry actions" and "terrifying deeds" from the previous verse.
they have all encircled me
The writer speaks of God's "angry actions" and "terrifying deeds" as if they were enemies who were trying to capture and kill him. AT: "they have surrounded me like enemy soldiers" (See: Metaphor)
every friend and acquaintance
"every person I love and know"
My only acquaintance is the darkness
This speaks about darkness as if it were a person that could be friends with someone else. The writer is emphasizing that he feels completely alone. AT: "Everywhere I go it is dark" (See: Personification)
translationWords
darkness
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.