Job 36:10-11

36:10 And he reveals ¹  this ²  for correction,

and says that they must turn ³  from evil.

36:11 If they obey and serve him,

they live out their days in prosperity

and their years in pleasantness. ⁴ 

Psalms 22:4

22:4 In you our ancestors ⁵  trusted;

they trusted in you ⁶  and you rescued them.

Psalms 30:9-12

30:9 “What ⁷  profit is there in taking my life, ⁸ 

in my descending into the Pit? ⁹ 

Can the dust of the grave ¹⁰  praise you?

Can it declare your loyalty? ¹¹ 

30:10 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me!

O Lord, deliver me!” ¹² 

30:11 Then you turned my lament into dancing;

you removed my sackcloth and covered me with joy. ¹³ 

30:12 So now ¹⁴  my heart ¹⁵  will sing to you and not be silent;

O Lord my God, I will always ¹⁶  give thanks to you.

Psalms 40:2

40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, ¹⁷ 

out of the slimy mud. ¹⁸ 

He placed my feet on a rock

and gave me secure footing. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 71:3

71:3 Be my protector and refuge, ²⁰ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ²¹ 

For you are my high ridge ²²  and my stronghold.

Psalms 86:13

86:13 For you will extend your great loyal love to me, ²³ 

and will deliver my life ²⁴  from the depths of Sheol. ²⁵ 

Isaiah 38:17-19

38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ²⁶ 

You delivered me ²⁷  from the pit of oblivion. ²⁸ 

For you removed all my sins from your sight. ²⁹ 

38:18 Indeed ³⁰  Sheol does not give you thanks;

death does not ³¹  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.

Jeremiah 31:20

31:20 Indeed, the people of Israel are my dear children.

They are the children I take delight in. ³² 

For even though I must often rebuke them,

I still remember them with fondness.

So I am deeply moved with pity for them ³³ 

and will surely have compassion on them.

I, the Lord, affirm it! ³⁴ 

Zechariah 9:11

9:11 Moreover, as for you, because of our covenant relationship secured with blood, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.

[36:10]  ¹ tn The idiom once again is “he uncovers their ear.”

[36:10]  ² tn The revelation is in the preceding verse, and so a pronoun must be added to make the reference clear.

[36:10]  ³ tn The verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to turn; to return”) is one of the two major words in the OT for “repent” – to return from evil. Here the imperfect should be obligatory – they must do it.

[36:11]  ⁴ tc Some commentators delete this last line for metrical considerations. But there is no textual evidence for the deletion; it is simply the attempt by some to make the meter rigid.

[22:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “fathers.”

[22:4]  ⁶ tn The words “in you” are supplied in the translation. They are understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[30:9]  ⁷ 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.

[30:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “What profit [is there] in my blood?” “Blood” here represents his life.

[30:9]  ⁹ 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).

[30:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “dust.” The words “of the grave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[30:9]  ¹¹ tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “Of course not!”

[30:10]  ¹² tn Heb “be a helper to me.”

[30:11]  ¹³ sn Covered me with joy. “Joy” probably stands metonymically for festive attire here.

[30:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “so that”; or “in order that.”

[30:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “glory.” Some view כָבוֹד (khavod, “glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.” “Heart” is used in the translation above for the sake of English idiom; the expression “my liver sings” would seem odd indeed to the modern reader.

[30:12]  ¹⁶ tn Or “forever.”

[40:2]  ¹⁷ 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).

[40:2]  ¹⁸ 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.

[40:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he established my footsteps.”

[71:3]  ²⁰ tc Heb “become for me a rocky summit of a dwelling place.” The Hebrew term מָעוֹן (ma’on, “dwelling place”) should probably be emended to מָעוֹז (ma’oz, “refuge”; see Ps 31:2).

[71:3]  ²¹ tc Heb “to enter continually, you commanded to deliver me.” The Hebrew phrase לָבוֹא תָּמִיד צִוִּיתָ (lavo’ tamid tsivvita, “to enter continually, you commanded”) should be emended to לְבֵית מְצוּדוֹת (lÿvet mÿtsudot, “a house of strongholds”; see Ps 31:2).

[71:3]  ²² sn You are my high ridge. This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.

[86:13]  ²³ tn Heb “for your loyal love [is] great over me.”

[86:13]  ²⁴ tn Or “for he will have delivered my life.” The verb form indicates a future perfect here.

[86:13]  ²⁵ tn Or “lower Sheol.”

[38:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”

[38:17]  ²⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads, “you loved my soul,” but this does not fit syntactically with the following prepositional phrase. חָשַׁקְתָּ (khashaqta, “you loved”), may reflect an aural error; most emend the form to חָשַׂכְת, (khasakht, “you held back”).

[38:17]  ²⁸ tn בְּלִי (bÿli) most often appears as a negation, meaning “without,” suggesting the meaning “nothingness, oblivion,” here. Some translate “decay” or “destruction.”

[38:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for you threw behind your back all my sins.”

[38:18]  ³⁰ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[38:18]  ³¹ tn The negative particle is understood by ellipsis in this line. See GKC 483 §152.z.

[31:20]  ³² tn Heb “Is Ephraim a dear son to me or a child of delight?” For the substitution of Israel for Ephraim and the plural pronouns for the singular see the note on v. 18. According to BDB 210 s.v. הֲ 1.c the question is rhetorical having the force of an impassioned affirmation. See 1 Sam 2:27; Job 41:9 (41:1 HT) for parallel usage.

[31:20]  ³³ tn Heb “my stomach churns for him.” The parallelism shows that this refers to pity or compassion.

[31:20]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”