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Psalm 88:17

They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me.

15I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.
16Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off.
17They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me.
18You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.
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← Psalm 88:16Psalm 88:18 →
Notice

Water surrounds the speaker without a break, making “all day long” a measure of terror that leaves no room to breathe or glimpse relief.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What in your life, if anything, feels like water surrounding you “all day long”?

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How does the speaker’s description of God’s terrors affect what you feel able to say in prayer?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

9 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 118:11They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. In the LORD’s name I indeed cut them off.Both speakers describe being surrounded, though Psalm 118 reports victory in the LORD’s name while Psalm 88 remains engulfed.
Psalm 22:16For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet.Both speakers describe being enclosed by threats: terrors like water in Psalm 88, dogs and evildoers in Psalm 22.
Psalm 118:10All the nations surrounded me, but in the LORD’s name I cut them off.Both describe danger on every side, but Psalm 118 names surrounding nations and victory while Psalm 88 describes engulfing terrors.
Psalm 116:3The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.Both speakers describe suffering that surrounds and seizes them, with no escape reported in these verses.
Job 16:12–13I 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.Both speakers describe suffering attributed to God in bodily images: engulfing water in the psalm and being shattered in Job.
Job 30:14–15As through a wide breach they come. They roll themselves in amid the ruin.Both passages describe overwhelming forces coming upon the speaker, through engulfing water in the psalm and a breach amid ruin in Job.
Matthew 27:39–44Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their headsThe shared thread is suffering: Psalm 88 describes engulfing terrors, while Matthew records passersby mocking Jesus.
Lamentations 3:5–7He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.Both speakers describe being surrounded by suffering they attribute to God, with no opening toward relief in these verses.
Hosea 5:10The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark. I will pour out my wrath on them like water.Both passages use water to describe God’s wrath, though Psalm 88 speaks from within suffering and Hosea announces judgment.
Where this verse fits

Feeling distant from God. anxiety or panic. grief.

What the Bible says about doubt →What the Bible says about anxiety →What the Bible says about grief →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Tell God what feels engulfing, without forcing a hopeful ending

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Encouragement

There is room in prayer for the words “They completely engulfed me.” This lament addresses God from within terror, and the verse offers no claim that relief has come.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 88:17. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 88 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).