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
88:10 Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead?
Do the departed spirits 6 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? 7
88:12 Are your amazing deeds experienced 8 in the dark region, 9
or your deliverance in the land of oblivion? 10
115:17 The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any of those who descend into the silence of death. 11
118:17 I will not die, but live,
and I will proclaim what the Lord has done. 12
38:18 Indeed 13 Sheol does not give you thanks;
death does not 14 praise you.
Those who descend into the pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.
38:19 The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks,
as I do today.
A father tells his sons about 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 “Rephaim,” a term that refers to those who occupy the land of the dead (see Isa 14:9; 26:14, 19).
7 tn Heb “in Abaddon,” a name for Sheol. The noun is derived from a verbal root meaning “to perish,” “to die.”
8 tn Heb “known.”
9 tn Heb “darkness,” here a title for Sheol.
10 tn Heb “forgetfulness.” The noun, which occurs only here in the OT, is derived from a verbal root meaning “to forget.”
11 tn Heb “silence,” a metonymy here for death (see Ps 94:17).
12 tn Heb “the works of the
13 tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
14 tn The negative particle is understood by ellipsis in this line. See GKC 483 §152.z.