Psalms 30:9

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 

Psalms 49:17

49:17 For he will take nothing with him when he dies;

his wealth will not follow him down into the grave. ⁶ 

Psalms 55:15

55:15 May death destroy them! ⁷ 

May they go down alive into Sheol! ⁸ 

For evil is in their dwelling place and in their midst.

Psalms 56:7

56:7 Because they are bent on violence, do not let them escape! ⁹ 

In your anger ¹⁰  bring down the nations, ¹¹  O God!

Psalms 59:11

59:11 Do not strike them dead suddenly,

because then my people might forget the lesson. ¹² 

Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down,

O Lord who shields us! ¹³ 

Psalms 88:4

88:4 They treat me like ¹⁴  those who descend into the grave. ¹⁵ 

I am like a helpless man, ¹⁶ 

Psalms 104:8

104:8 as the mountains rose up,

and the valleys went down –

to the place you appointed for them. ¹⁷ 

[30:9]  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.

[30:9]  ² tn Heb “What profit [is there] in my blood?” “Blood” here represents his life.

[30:9]  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).

[30:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “dust.” The words “of the grave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[30:9]  ⁵ tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “Of course not!”

[49:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “his glory will not go down after him.”

[55:15]  ¹¹ tc The meaning of the MT is unclear. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads יַשִּׁימָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashimavet ’alemo, “May devastation [be] upon them!”). The proposed noun יַשִּׁימָוֶת occurs only here and perhaps in the place name Beth-Jeshimoth in Num 33:49. The Qere (marginal text) has יַשִּׁי מָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashi mavet ’alemo). The verbal form יַשִּׁי is apparently an alternate form of יַשִּׁיא (yashi’), a Hiphil imperfect from נָשַׁא (nasha’, “deceive”). In this case one might read “death will come deceptively upon them.” This reading has the advantage of reading מָוֶת (mavet, “death”) which forms a natural parallel with “Sheol” in the next line. The present translation is based on the following reconstruction of the text: יְשִׁמֵּם מָוֶת (yeshimmem mavet). The verb assumed in the reconstruction is a Hiphil jussive third masculine singular from שָׁמַם (shamam, “be desolate”) with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix attached. This reconstruction assumes that (1) haplography has occurred in the traditional text (the original sequence of three mems [מ] was lost with only one mem remaining), resulting in the fusion of originally distinct forms in the Kethib, and (2) that עָלֵימוֹ (’alemo, “upon them”) is a later scribal addition attempting to make sense of a garbled and corrupt text. The preposition עַל (’al) does occur with the verb שָׁמַם (shamam), but in such cases the expression means “be appalled at/because of” (see Jer 49:20; 50:45). If one were to retain the prepositional phrase here, one would have to read the text as follows: יַשִּׁים מָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashim mavet ’alemo, “Death will be appalled at them”). The idea seems odd, to say the least. Death is not collocated with this verb elsewhere.

[55:15]  ¹² sn Go down alive. This curse imagines a swift and sudden death for the psalmist’s enemies.

[56:7]  ¹⁶ tc Heb “because of wickedness, deliverance to them.” As it stands, the MT makes no sense. The negative particle אַיִן (’ayin, “there is not,” which is due to dittography of the immediately preceding אָוֶן, ’aven, “wickedness”), should probably be added before “deliverance” (see BHS, note a). The presence of an imperative in the next line (note “bring down”) suggests that this line should be translated as a prayer as well, “may there not be deliverance to them.”

[56:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in anger.” The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[56:7]  ¹⁸ tn Or perhaps “people” in a general sense.

[59:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “do not kill them, lest my people forget.”

[59:11]  ²² tn Heb “make them roam around by your strength and bring them down, O our shield, the Lord.”

[88:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I am considered with.”

[88:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.

[88:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I am like a man [for whom] there is no help.”

[104:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “from your shout they fled, from the sound of your thunder they hurried off.”