By David.
28:1 To you, O Lord, I cry out!
My protector, 2 do not ignore me! 3
If you do not respond to me, 4
I will join 5 those who are descending into the grave. 6
88:4 They treat me like 7 those who descend into the grave. 8
I am like a helpless man, 9
88:5 adrift 10 among the dead,
like corpses lying in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
and who are cut off from your power. 11
88:6 You place me in the lowest regions of the pit, 12
in the dark places, in the watery depths.
88:10 Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead?
Do the departed spirits 13 rise up and give you thanks? (Selah)
88:11 Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the place of the dead? 14
38:18 Indeed 15 Sheol does not give you thanks;
death does not 16 praise you.
Those who descend into the pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.
1 sn Psalm 28. The author looks to the Lord for vindication, asks that the wicked be repaid in full for their evil deeds, and affirms his confidence that the Lord will protect his own.
2 tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.
3 tn Heb “do not be deaf from me.”
4 tn Heb “lest [if] you are silent from me.”
5 tn Heb “I will be equal with.”
6 tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.
7 tn Heb “I am considered with.”
8 tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.
9 tn Heb “I am like a man [for whom] there is no help.”
10 tn Heb “set free.”
11 tn Heb “from your hand.”
12 tn The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See v. 4.
13 tn Heb “Rephaim,” a term that refers to those who occupy the land of the dead (see Isa 14:9; 26:14, 19).
14 tn Heb “in Abaddon,” a name for Sheol. The noun is derived from a verbal root meaning “to perish,” “to die.”
15 tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
16 tn The negative particle is understood by ellipsis in this line. See GKC 483 §152.z.