Psalms 18:16-17

18:16 He reached down ¹  from above and took hold of me;

he pulled me from the surging water. ² 

18:17 He rescued me from my strong enemy, ³ 

from those who hate me,

for they were too strong for me.

Psalms 71:20

71:20 Though you have allowed me to experience much trouble and distress, ⁴ 

revive me once again! ⁵ 

Bring me up once again ⁶  from the depths of the earth!

Psalms 86:13

86:13 For you will extend your great loyal love to me, ⁷ 

and will deliver my life ⁸  from the depths of Sheol. ⁹ 

Psalms 116:3

116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me, ¹⁰ 

the snares ¹¹  of Sheol confronted me.

I was confronted ¹²  with trouble and sorrow.

Psalms 142:6-7

142:6 Listen to my cry for help,

for I am in serious trouble! ¹³ 

Rescue me from those who chase me,

for they are stronger than I am.

142:7 Free me ¹⁴  from prison,

that I may give thanks to your name.

Because of me the godly will assemble, ¹⁵ 

for you will vindicate me. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 143:3

143:3 Certainly ¹⁷  my enemies ¹⁸  chase me.

They smash me into the ground. ¹⁹ 

They force me to live ²⁰  in dark regions, ²¹ 

like those who have been dead for ages.

Isaiah 24:22

24:22 They will be imprisoned in a pit, ²² 

locked up in a prison,

and after staying there for a long time, ²³  they will be punished. ²⁴ 

Jonah 2:5-6

2:5 Water engulfed me up to my neck; ²⁵ 

the deep ocean ²⁶  surrounded me;

seaweed ²⁷  was wrapped around my head.

2:6 I went down ²⁸  to the very bottoms ²⁹  of the mountains; ³⁰ 

the gates ³¹  of the netherworld ³²  barred me in ³³  forever; ³⁴ 

but you brought me ³⁵  up from the Pit, ³⁶  O Lord, my God.

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.

Acts 2:24

2:24 But God raised him up, ³⁷  having released ³⁸  him from the pains ³⁹  of death, because it was not possible for him to be held in its power. ⁴⁰ 

Acts 2:27-31

2:27 because you will not leave my soul in Hades, ⁴¹ 

nor permit your Holy One to experience ⁴²  decay.

2:28 You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will make me full of joy with your presence.’ ⁴³ 

2:29 “Brothers, ⁴⁴  I can speak confidently ⁴⁵  to you about our forefather ⁴⁶  David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 2:30 So then, because ⁴⁷  he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants ⁴⁸  on his throne, ⁴⁹  2:31 David by foreseeing this ⁵⁰  spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, ⁵¹  that he was neither abandoned to Hades, ⁵²  nor did his body ⁵³  experience ⁵⁴  decay. ⁵⁵ 

[18:16]  ¹ tn Heb “stretched.” Perhaps “his hand” should be supplied by ellipsis (see Ps 144:7). In this poetic narrative context the three prefixed verbal forms in this verse are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.

[18:16]  ² tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see v. 4 and Ps 144:7).

[18:17]  ³ tn The singular refers either to personified death or collectively to the psalmist’s enemies. The following line, which refers to “those [plural] who hate me,” favors the latter.

[71:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “you who have caused me to see many harmful distresses.”

[71:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “you return, you give me life.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense, indicating repetition of the action described by the following verb. The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.) Another option is to understand this as a statement of confidence, “you will revive me once again” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[71:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “you return, you bring me up.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense, indicating repetition of the action described by the following verb. The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.) Another option is to understand this as a statement of confidence, “you will bring me up once again” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[86:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “for your loyal love [is] great over me.”

[86:13]  ⁸ tn Or “for he will have delivered my life.” The verb form indicates a future perfect here.

[86:13]  ⁹ tn Or “lower Sheol.”

[116:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[116:3]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew noun מצר (“straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. BDB 865 s.v. מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; NIV “the anguish of the grave”; NRSV “the pangs of Sheol”). However, HALOT 624 s.v. מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.

[116:3]  ¹² tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.

[142:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “for I am very low.”

[142:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “bring out my life.”

[142:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “gather around.”

[142:7]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ’al) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense.

[143:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or “for.”

[143:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “an enemy.” The singular is used in a representative sense to describe a typical member of the larger group of enemies (note the plural “enemies” in vv. 9, 12).

[143:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he crushes on the ground my life.”

[143:3]  ²⁰ tn Or “sit.”

[143:3]  ²¹ sn Dark regions refers to Sheol, which the psalmist views as a dark place located deep in the ground (see Ps 88:6).

[24:22]  ²² tn Heb “they will be gathered [in] a gathering [as] a prisoner in a cistern.” It is tempting to eliminate אֲסֵפָה (’asefah, “a gathering”) as dittographic or as a gloss, but sound repetition is one of the main characteristics of the style of this section of the chapter.

[24:22]  ²³ tn Heb “and after a multitude of days.”

[24:22]  ²⁴ tn Heb “visited” (so KJV, ASV). This verse can mean to visit for good or for evil. The translation assumes the latter, based on v. 21a. However, BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד B.Niph.2 suggests the meaning “visit graciously” here, in which case one might translate “they will be released.”

[2:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “as far as the throat.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) refers sometimes to the throat or neck (Pss 69:1[2]; 105:18; 124:4, 5; Isa 5:14; HALOT 712 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 2). The water was up to Jonah’s neck (and beyond), so that his life was in great danger (cf. Ps 69:1).

[2:5]  ²⁶ tn Or “the deep; the abyss” (תְּהוֹם, tÿhom). The simple “ocean” is perhaps too prosaic, since this Hebrew word has primeval connections (Gen 1:2; 7:11; 8:2; Prov 8:27-28) and speaks of the sea at its vastest (Job 38:16-18; Ps 36:6; 104:5-9).

[2:5]  ²⁷ tc The consonantal form סוף (svf) is vocalized by the MT as סוּף (suf, “reed”) but the LXX’s ἐσχάτη (escath, “end”) reflects a vocalization of סוֹף (sof, “end”). The reading in Tg. Jonah 2:5 interpreted this as a reference to the Reed Sea (also known as the Red Sea). In fact, the Jewish Midrash known as Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer 10 states that God showed Jonah the way by which the Israelites had passed through the Red Sea. The MT vocalization tradition is preferred.

[2:6]  ²⁸ tn Jonah began going “down” (יָרַד, yarad) in chap. 1 (vv. 3, 5; see also 1:15; 2:2-3).

[2:6]  ²⁹ tc The MT לְקִצְבֵי הָרִים (lÿqitsve harim, “to the extremities [i.e., very bottoms] of the mountains”) is a bit unusual, appearing only here in the Hebrew Bible. Therefore, the BHS editors suggest a conjectural emendation of the MT’s לְקִצְבֵי (“to the extremities”) to לְקַצְוֵי (lÿqatswey, “to the ends [of the mountains])” based on orthographic confusion between vav (ו) and bet (ב). However, the phrase קצבי הרים does appear in the OT Apocrypha in Sir 16:19; therefore, it is not without precedent. Since Jonah emphasizes that he descended, as it were, to the very gates of the netherworld in the second half of this verse, it would be appropriate for Jonah to say that he went down “to the extremities [i.e., very bottoms] of the mountains” (לְקִצְבֵי הָרִים). Therefore, the MT may be retained with confidence.

[2:6]  ³⁰ tn Some English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV) have connected the “bottoms of the mountains” with the preceding – “weeds were wrapped around my head at the bottoms of the mountains” – and connect “I went down” with “the earth.” Such a connection between “I went down” and “the earth” is difficult to accept. It would be more normal in Hebrew to express “I went down to the earth” with a directive ending (אַרְצָה, ’artsah) or with a Hebrew preposition before “earth” or without the definite article. The Masoretic accents, in addition, connect “ends of the mountains” with the verb “I went down” and call for a break between the verb and “earth.”

[2:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “As for the earth, its bars…” This phrase is a rhetorical nominative construction (also known as casus pendens) in which the noun הָאָרֶץ (ha’arets, “the earth”) stands grammatically isolated and in an emphatic position prior to the third feminine singular suffix that picks up on it in בְּרִחֶיהָ (bÿrikheha, “its bars”; see IBHS 128-30 §8.3). This construction is used to emphasize the subject, in this case, the “bars of the netherworld.” The word translated “bars” appears elsewhere to speak of bars used in constructing the sides of the tabernacle and often of crossbars (made of wood or metal) associated with the gates of fortified cities (cf. Exod 36:31-34; Judg 16:3; 1 Kgs 4:13; Neh 3:3; Pss 107:16; 147:13; Isa 45:1-2).

[2:6]  ³² tn Heb “the earth.” The noun אֶרֶץ (’erets) usually refers to the “earth” but here refers to the “netherworld” (e.g., Job 10:21, 22; Ps 139:15; Isa 26:19; 44:23; BDB 76 s.v. אֶרֶץ 2.g). This is parallel to the related Akkadian term irsitu used in the phrase “the land of no return,” that is, the netherworld. This refers to the place of the dead (along with “belly of Sheol,” v. 2, and “the grave,” v. 6), which is sometimes described as having “gates” (Job 38:17; Ps 107:18).

[2:6]  ³³ tn Heb “behind me.” The preposition בַּעַד (ba’ad) with a pronominal suffix and with the meaning “behind” is found also in Judg 3:23. Jonah pictures himself as closed in and so unable to escape death. Having described how far he had come (totally under water and “to the ends of mountains”), Jonah describes the way back as permanently closed against him. Just as it was impossible for a lone individual to walk through the barred gates of a walled city, so Jonah expected it was impossible for him to escape death.

[2:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “As for the earth, its bars [were] against me forever.” This line is a verbless clause. The verb in the translation has been supplied for the sake of clarity and smoothness. The rhetorical nominative construction (see the note on the word “gates” earlier in this verse) has also been smoothed out in the translation.

[2:6]  ³⁵ tn Heb “my life.” The term חַיַּי (khayyay, “my life”) functions metonymically as a first common singular pronoun (“me”).

[2:6]  ³⁶ sn Jonah pictures himself as being at the very gates of the netherworld (v. 6b) and now within the Pit itself (v. 6c). He is speaking rhetorically, for he had not actually died. His point is that he was as good as dead if God did not intervene immediately. See Pss 7:15; 30:3; 103:4; Ezek 19:3-4, 8.

[2:24]  ³⁷ tn Grk “Whom God raised up.”

[2:24]  ³⁸ tn Or “having freed.”

[2:24]  ³⁹ sn The term translated pains is frequently used to describe pains associated with giving birth (see Rev 12:2). So there is irony here in the mixed metaphor.

[2:24]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “for him to be held by it” (in either case, “it” refers to death’s power).

[2:27]  ⁴¹ tn Or “will not abandon my soul to Hades.” Often “Hades” is the equivalent of the Hebrew term Sheol, the place of the dead.

[2:27]  ⁴² tn Grk “to see,” but the literal translation of the phrase “to see decay” could be misunderstood to mean simply “to look at decay,” while here “see decay” is really figurative for “experience decay.”

[2:28]  ⁴³ sn A quotation from Ps 16:8-11.

[2:29]  ⁴⁴ tn Since this represents a continuation of the address beginning in v.14 and continued in v. 22, “brothers” has been used here rather than a generic expression like “brothers and sisters.”

[2:29]  ⁴⁵ sn Peter’s certainty is based on well-known facts.

[2:29]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “about our noted ancestor,” “about the patriarch.”

[2:30]  ⁴⁷ tn The participles ὑπάρχων (Juparcwn) and εἰδώς (eidw") are translated as causal adverbial participles.

[2:30]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “one from the fruit of his loins.” “Loins” is the traditional translation of ὀσφῦς (osfu"), referring to the male genital organs. A literal rendering like “one who came from his genital organs” would be regarded as too specific and perhaps even vulgar by many contemporary readers. Most modern translations thus render the phrase “one of his descendants.”

[2:30]  ⁴⁹ sn An allusion to Ps 132:11 and 2 Sam 7:12-13, the promise in the Davidic covenant.

[2:31]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “David foreseeing spoke.” The participle προϊδών (proidwn) is taken as indicating means. It could also be translated as a participle of attendant circumstance: “David foresaw [this] and spoke.” The word “this” is supplied in either case as an understood direct object (direct objects in Greek were often omitted, but must be supplied for the modern English reader).

[2:31]  ⁵¹ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[2:31]  ⁵² tn Or “abandoned in the world of the dead.” The translation “world of the dead” for Hades is suggested by L&N 1.19. The phrase is an allusion to Ps 16:10.

[2:31]  ⁵³ tn Grk “flesh.” See vv. 26b-27. The reference to “body” in this verse picks up the reference to “body” in v. 26. The Greek term σάρξ (sarx) in both verses literally means “flesh”; however, the translation “body” stresses the lack of decay of his physical body. The point of the verse is not merely the lack of decay of his flesh alone, but the resurrection of his entire person, as indicated by the previous parallel line “he was not abandoned to Hades.”

[2:31]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “see,” but the literal translation of the phrase “see decay” could be misunderstood to mean simply “look at decay,” while here “see decay” is really figurative for “experience decay.”

[2:31]  ⁵⁵ sn An allusion to Ps 16:10.