40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, 1
out of the slimy mud. 2
He placed my feet on a rock
and gave me secure footing. 3
86:13 For you will extend your great loyal love to me, 4
and will deliver my life 5 from the depths of Sheol. 6
32:22 For a fire has been kindled by my anger,
and it burns to lowest Sheol; 7
it consumes the earth and its produce,
and ignites the foundations of the mountains.
1 tn Heb “cistern of roaring.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “cistern, pit”) is used metaphorically here of Sheol, the place of death, which is sometimes depicted as a raging sea (see Ps 18:4, 15-16). The noun שָׁאוֹן (sha’on, “roaring”) refers elsewhere to the crashing sound of the sea’s waves (see Ps 65:7).
2 tn Heb “from the mud of mud.” The Hebrew phrase translated “slimy mud” employs an appositional genitive. Two synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.
3 tn Heb “he established my footsteps.”
4 tn Heb “for your loyal love [is] great over me.”
5 tn Or “for he will have delivered my life.” The verb form indicates a future perfect here.
6 tn Or “lower Sheol.”
7 tn Or “to the lowest depths of the earth”; cf. NAB “to the depths of the nether world”; NIV “to the realm of death below”; NLT “to the depths of the grave.”