Bible Strands
Psalms 88:17
All day long they engulf me like water; they enclose me on every side.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist speaks to God in a moment of acute distress, positioned immediately after a description of divine wrath and just before a statement about the loss of companionship and the dominance of darkness.
The words — The verbs סַבּ֣וּ/נִי (sa.Bu./ni) and הִקִּ֖יפוּ (hi.Ki.fu) literally mean "they have surrounded," reinforced by כַ֭/מַּיִם (Kha./ma.yim) as "like water." Combined with כָּל־הַיּ֑וֹם (kol-haYom, "all day") and יָֽחַד (Ya.chad, "altogether"), they establish a continuous, inescapable pressure.
The thread — The text places this encirclement alongside the waters reaching the neck in Psalms 69:1, the band of evil men in Psalms 22:16, and the ropes of death in Psalms 116:3. These passages consistently use physical confinement to map sudden, overwhelming peril.
Why it lands — The verse requires acknowledgment of sustained, inescapable affliction without promising immediate deliverance. It asks the reader to sit with the reality of unrelenting pressure and divine silence.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
Cross-references
- Psalms 22:16 For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.
- Psalms 69:1 For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David. Save me, O God, for the waters are up to my neck.
- Psalms 116:3 The ropes of death entangled me; the anguish of Sheol overcame me; I was confronted by trouble and sorrow.
- Job 16:12 I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;
- Job 30:14 They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in.
- Psalms 42:7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.
- Psalms 118:10 All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
- Psalms 124:4 then the floods would have engulfed us, then the torrent would have overwhelmed us,
- Lamentations 3:5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
- Matthew 27:39 And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads