Psalms 49:14

49:14 They will travel to Sheol like sheep, ¹ 

with death as their shepherd. ² 

The godly will rule ³  over them when the day of vindication dawns; ⁴ 

Sheol will consume their bodies and they will no longer live in impressive houses. ⁵ 

Psalms 9:17

9:17 The wicked are turned back and sent to Sheol; ⁶ 

this is the destiny of ⁷  all the nations that ignore ⁸  God,

Psalms 18:5

18:5 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me, ⁹ 

the snares of death trapped me. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 86:13

86:13 For you will extend your great loyal love to me, ¹¹ 

and will deliver my life ¹²  from the depths of Sheol. ¹³ 

Psalms 88:3

88:3 For my life ¹⁴  is filled with troubles

and I am ready to enter Sheol. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 139:8

139:8 If I were to ascend ¹⁶  to heaven, you would be there.

If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 141:7

141:7 As when one plows and breaks up the soil, ¹⁸ 

so our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

Psalms 6:5

6:5 For no one remembers you in the realm of death, ¹⁹ 

In Sheol who gives you thanks? ²⁰ 

Psalms 16:10

16:10 You will not abandon me ²¹  to Sheol; ²² 

you will not allow your faithful follower ²³  to see ²⁴  the Pit. ²⁵ 

Psalms 30:3

30:3 O Lord, you pulled me ²⁶  up from Sheol;

you rescued me from among those descending into the grave. ²⁷ 

Psalms 31:17

31:17 O Lord, do not let me be humiliated,

for I call out to you!

May evil men be humiliated!

May they go wailing to the grave! ²⁸ 

Psalms 49:15

49:15 But ²⁹  God will rescue ³⁰  my life ³¹  from the power ³²  of Sheol;

certainly ³³  he will pull me to safety. ³⁴  (Selah)

Psalms 55:15

55:15 May death destroy them! ³⁵ 

May they go down alive into Sheol! ³⁶ 

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

Psalms 89:48

89:48 No man can live on without experiencing death,

or deliver his life from the power of Sheol. ³⁷  (Selah)

Psalms 116:3

116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me, ³⁸ 

the snares ³⁹  of Sheol confronted me.

I was confronted ⁴⁰  with trouble and sorrow.

[49:14]  ¹ tn Heb “like sheep to Sheol they are appointed.” The verb form שַׁתּוּ (shatu) is apparently derived from שָׁתַת (shatat), which appears to be a variant of the more common שִׁית (shiyt, “to place; to set”; BDB 1060 s.v. שָׁתַת and GKC 183 §67.ee). Some scholars emend the text to שָׁחוּ (shakhu; from the verbal root שׁוּח [shukh, “sink down”]) and read “they descend.” The present translation assumes an emendation to שָׁטוּ (shatu; from the verbal root שׁוּט [shut, “go; wander”]), “they travel, wander.” (The letter tet [ט] and tav [ת] sound similar; a scribe transcribing from dictation could easily confuse them.) The perfect verbal form is used in a rhetorical manner to speak of their destiny as if it were already realized (the so-called perfect of certitude or prophetic perfect).

[49:14]  ² tn Heb “death will shepherd them,” that is, death itself (personified here as a shepherd) will lead them like a flock of helpless, unsuspecting sheep to Sheol, the underworld, the land of the dead.

[49:14]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same force as the perfect verbal form in v. 14a. The psalmist speaks of this coming event as if it were already accomplished.

[49:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “will rule over them in the morning.” “Morning” here is a metaphor for a time of deliverance and vindication after the dark “night” of trouble (see Pss 30:5; 46:5; 59:16; 90:14; 143:8; Isa 17:14). In this context the psalmist confidently anticipates a day of vindication when the Lord will deliver the oppressed from the rich (see v. 15) and send the oppressors to Sheol.

[49:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “their form [will become an object] for the consuming of Sheol, from a lofty residence, to him.” The meaning of this syntactically difficult text is uncertain. The translation assumes that צוּר (tsur, “form”; this is the Qere [marginal] reading; the Kethib has צִירָם [tsiram, “their image”]) refers to their physical form or bodies. “Sheol” is taken as the subject of “consume” (on the implied “become” before the infinitive “to consume” see GKC 349 §114.k). The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to “lofty residence” is understood as privative, “away from; so as not.” The preposition -ל (lamed) is possessive, while the third person pronominal suffix is understood as a representative singular.

[9:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “the wicked turn back to Sheol.” The imperfect verbal form either emphasizes what typically happens or describes vividly the aftermath of the Lord’s victory over the psalmist’s enemies. See v. 3.

[9:17]  ⁷ tn The words “this is the destiny of” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. The verb “are turned back” is understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[9:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “forget.” “Forgetting God” refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see also Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 44:20). The nations’ refusal to acknowledge God’s sovereignty accounts for their brazen attempt to attack and destroy his people.

[18:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[18:5]  ¹² tn Heb “confronted me.”

[86:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for your loyal love [is] great over me.”

[86:13]  ¹⁷ tn Or “for he will have delivered my life.” The verb form indicates a future perfect here.

[86:13]  ¹⁸ tn Or “lower Sheol.”

[88:3]  ²¹ tn Or “my soul.”

[88:3]  ²² tn Heb “and my life approaches Sheol.”

[139:8]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew verb סָלַק (salaq, “to ascend”) occurs only here in the OT, but the word is well-attested in Aramaic literature from different time periods and displays a wide semantic range (see DNWSI 2:788-90).

[139:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “look, you.”

[141:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “like splitting and breaking open in the earth.” The meaning of the statement and the point of the comparison are not entirely clear. Perhaps the psalmist is suggesting that he and other godly individuals are as good as dead; their bones are scattered about like dirt that is dug up and tossed aside.

[6:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for there is not in death your remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זֵכֶר (zekher, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 30:4; 97:12. “Death” here refers to the realm of death where the dead reside. See the reference to Sheol in the next line.

[6:5]  ³⁷ tn The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[16:10]  ⁴¹ tn Or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[16:10]  ⁴² sn In ancient Israelite cosmology Sheol is the realm of the dead, viewed as being under the earth’s surface. See L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 165-76.

[16:10]  ⁴³ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד [khasid], traditionally rendered “holy one”) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10). The psalmist here refers to himself, as the parallel line (“You will not abandon me to Sheol”) indicates.

[16:10]  ⁴⁴ tn That is, “experience.” The psalmist is confident that the Lord will protect him in his present crisis (see v. 1) and prevent him from dying.

[16:10]  ⁴⁵ tn The Hebrew word שָׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 30:9; 49:9; 55:24; 103:4). Note the parallelism with the previous line.

[30:3]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “my life.”

[30:3]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “you kept me alive from those descending into the pit.” The Hebrew noun בוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. The translation follows the consonantal Hebrew text (Kethib); the marginal reading (Qere) has, “you kept me alive so that I did not go down into the pit.”

[31:17]  ⁵¹ tn The verb יִדְּמוּ (yiddÿmu) is understood as a form of דָּמַם (damam, “wail, lament”). Another option is to take the verb from דָּמַם (“be quiet”; see BDB 198-99 s.v. I דָּמַם), in which case one might translate, “May they lie silent in the grave.”

[49:15]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “certainly.”

[49:15]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “redeem.”

[49:15]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “me.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[49:15]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “hand.”

[49:15]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “for.”

[49:15]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “he will take me.” To improve the poetic balance of the verse, some move the words “from the power of Sheol” to the following line. The verse would then read: “But God will rescue my life; / from the power of Sheol he will certainly deliver me” (cf. NEB).

[55:15]  ⁶¹ 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]  ⁶² sn Go down alive. This curse imagines a swift and sudden death for the psalmist’s enemies.

[89:48]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “Who [is] the man [who] can live and not see death, [who] can deliver his life from the hand of Sheol?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[116:3]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[116:3]  ⁷² 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]  ⁷³ tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.