Psalms 88:1

O Lord God&c. Jehovah, the God of my salvation. Cp. Psalms 27:9.

I have cried day and night before thee Parallels such as Psalms 22:2 suggest that this is the meaning intended, but it is difficult to extract it from the Heb. text, even if we assume that "the broken language corresponds to the weakness of the gasping sufferer" (Kay). An ingenious and plausible emendation removes the difficulty thus:

Jehovah my God, I have cried for help in the day time,

And in the night hath my crying been before thee.

Cp. Psalms 88:13; Psalms 30:2; Job 19:7; Psalms 42:8. Though God has forsaken him, he can still address Him as my God(Psalms 22:1). Like Job, he must appeal to God even when God seems wholly alienated from him.