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
69:15 Don’t let the current overpower me!
Don’t let the deep swallow me up!
Don’t let the pit 6 devour me! 7
88:4 They treat me like 8 those who descend into the grave. 9
I am like a helpless man, 10
88:5 adrift 11 among the dead,
like corpses lying in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
and who are cut off from your power. 12
88:6 You place me in the lowest regions of the pit, 13
in the dark places, in the watery depths.
143:7 Answer me quickly, Lord!
My strength is fading. 14
Do not reject me, 15
or I will join 16 those descending into the grave. 17
33:28 He redeemed my life 18
from going down to the place of corruption,
and my life sees the light!’
1:12 We will swallow them alive 19 like Sheol, 20
those full of vigor 21 like those going down to the Pit.
38:18 Indeed 22 Sheol does not give you thanks;
death does not 23 praise you.
Those who descend into the pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.
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 “well,” which here symbolizes the place of the dead (cf. Ps 55:23).
7 tn Heb “do not let the well close its mouth upon me.”
8 tn Heb “I am considered with.”
9 tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.
10 tn Heb “I am like a man [for whom] there is no help.”
11 tn Heb “set free.”
12 tn Heb “from your hand.”
13 tn The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See v. 4.
14 tn Heb “my spirit is failing.”
15 tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” (1) can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) can carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
16 tn Heb “I will be equal with.”
17 tn Heb “the pit.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit; cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See Ps 28:1.
18 sn See note on “him” in v. 24.
19 tn Heb “lives.” The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “lives”) functions as an adverbial accusative of manner: “alive.” The form is a plural of state, used to describe a condition of life which encompasses a long period of time – in this case a person’s entire life. Murder cuts short a person’s life.
20 tn The noun שְׁאוֹל (shÿ’ol) can mean (1) “death,” cf. NCV; (2) “the grave,” cf. KJV, NIV, NLT (3) “Sheol” as the realm of departed spirits, cf. NAB “the nether world,” and (4) “extreme danger.” Here it is parallel to the noun בוֹר (vor, “the Pit”) so it is the grave or more likely “Sheol” (cf. ASV, NRSV). Elsewhere Sheol is personified as having an insatiable appetite and swallowing people alive as they descend to their death (e.g., Num 16:30, 33; Isa 5:14; Hab 2:5). In ancient Near Eastern literature, the grave is often personified in similar manner, e.g., in Ugaritic mythological texts Mot (= “death”) is referred to as “the great swallower.”
21 tn Heb “and whole.” The vav (ו) is asseverative or appositional (“even”); it is omitted in the translation for the sake of style and smoothness. The substantival adjective תָּמִים (tamim, “whole; perfect; blameless”) is an adverbial accusative describing the condition and state of the object. Used in parallel to חַיִּים (khayyim, “alive”), it must mean “full of health” (BDB 1071 s.v. תָּמִים 2). These cutthroats want to murder a person who is full of vigor.
22 tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
23 tn The negative particle is understood by ellipsis in this line. See GKC 483 §152.z.
24 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel introduced in v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
26 tn Or “and shut.” While the lexical force of the term is closer to “shut,” it is acceptable to render the verb ἔκλεισεν (ekleisen) as “locked” here in view of the mention of the key in the previous verse.