Psalms 6:5

6:5 For no one remembers you in the realm of death, ¹ 

In Sheol who gives you thanks? ² 

Isaiah 38:16-20

38:16 O sovereign master, your decrees can give men life;

may years of life be restored to me. ³ 

Restore my health ⁴  and preserve my life.’

38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. ⁵ 

You delivered me ⁶  from the pit of oblivion. ⁷ 

For you removed all my sins from your sight. ⁸ 

38:18 Indeed ⁹  Sheol does not give you thanks;

death does not ¹⁰  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.

38:20 The Lord is about to deliver me, ¹¹ 

and we will celebrate with music ¹² 

for the rest of our lives in the Lord’s temple.” ¹³ 

Habakkuk 1:12

Habakkuk Voices Some Concerns

1:12 Lord, you have been active from ancient times; ¹⁴ 

my sovereign God, ¹⁵  you are immortal. ¹⁶ 

Lord, you have made them ¹⁷  your instrument of judgment. ¹⁸ 

Protector, ¹⁹  you have appointed them as your instrument of punishment. ²⁰ 

John 11:4

11:4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death, ²¹  but to God’s glory, ²²  so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ²³ 

Romans 14:7-9

14:7 For none of us lives for himself and none dies for himself. 14:8 If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 14:9 For this reason Christ died and returned to life, so that he may be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

[6:5]  ¹ 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]  ² tn The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[38:16]  ³ tn The translation offered here is purely speculative. The text as it stands is meaningless and probably corrupt. It reads literally, “O lord, on account of them [the suffix is masculine plural], they live, and to all in them [the suffix is feminine plural], life of my spirit.”

[38:16]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as indicative, “you restore my health,” but the following imperatival form suggests it be understood as an imperfect of request.

[38:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”

[38:17]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn בְּלִי (bÿli) most often appears as a negation, meaning “without,” suggesting the meaning “nothingness, oblivion,” here. Some translate “decay” or “destruction.”

[38:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “for you threw behind your back all my sins.”

[38:18]  ⁹ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[38:18]  ¹⁰ tn The negative particle is understood by ellipsis in this line. See GKC 483 §152.z.

[38:20]  ¹¹ tn The infinitive construct is used here to indicate that an action is imminent. See GKC 348-49 §114.i, and IBHS 610 §36.2.3g.

[38:20]  ¹² tn Heb “and music [or perhaps, “stringed instruments”] we will play.”

[38:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord.”

[1:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Are you not from antiquity, O Lord?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Yes, of course.” The present translation reflects the force of the rhetorical question, rendering it as an affirmation. When used in a temporal sense the phrase מִקֶדֶם (miqedem) means “from antiquity, ancient times,” often referring to earlier periods in Israel’s history. See its use in Neh 12:46; Pss 74:12; 77:11; Isa 45:21; 46:10; Mic 5:2.

[1:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “My God, my holy one.” God’s “holiness” in this context is his sovereign transcendence as the righteous judge of the world (see vv. 12b-13a), thus the translation “My sovereign God.”

[1:12]  ¹⁶ tc The MT reads, “we will not die,” but an ancient scribal tradition has “you [i.e., God] will not die.” This is preferred as a more difficult reading that can explain the rise of the other variant. Later scribes who copied the manuscripts did not want to associate the idea of death with God in any way, so they softened the statement to refer to humanity.

[1:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “him,” a collective singular referring to the Babylonians. The plural pronoun “them” has been used in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style.

[1:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for judgment.”

[1:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Rock” or “Cliff.” This divine epithet views God as a place where one can go to be safe from danger. The translation “Protector” conveys the force of the metaphor (cf. KJV, NEB “O mighty God”).

[1:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to correct, reprove.”

[11:4]  ²¹ tn Grk “This sickness is not to death.”

[11:4]  ²² tn Or “to God’s praise.”

[11:4]  ²³ sn So that the Son of God may be glorified through it. These statements are highly ironic: For Lazarus, the sickness did not end in his death, because he was restored to life. But for Jesus himself, the miraculous sign he performed led to his own death, because it confirmed the authorities in their plan to kill Jesus (11:47-53). In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ death is consistently portrayed as his ‘glorification’ through which he accomplishes his return to the Father.