30:9 “What 1 profit is there in taking my life, 2
in my descending into the Pit? 3
Can the dust of the grave 4 praise you?
Can it declare your loyalty? 5
30:10 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me!
O Lord, deliver me!” 6
1 sn The following two verses (vv. 9-10) contain the prayer (or an excerpt of the prayer) that the psalmist offered to the Lord during his crisis.
2 tn Heb “What profit [is there] in my blood?” “Blood” here represents his life.
3 tn The Hebrew term שָׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 49:9; 55:24; 103:4).
4 tn Heb “dust.” The words “of the grave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “Of course not!”
6 tn Heb “be a helper to me.”