Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 88:15

"I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: While I suffer thy terrors I am distracted." — Psalms 88:15 (ASV)

Terrors: Another of the many expressions which connect this psalm with the book of Job. (Job 9:34, and others.)

Distracted: The Hebrew word is unique to this passage. The ancient versions all agree in understanding it as a verb and translating it by some general term meaning "trouble." But the context evidently requires a stronger word, and possibly, by connecting it with a cognate word meaning "wheel," we may get, "I turn giddy." A change of a single stroke in one letter would yield "I grow frigid." (Compare Psalm 38:8.)