24:22 They will be imprisoned in a pit, 1
locked up in a prison,
and after staying there for a long time, 2 they will be punished. 3
38:17 “Look, the grief I experienced was for my benefit. 4
You delivered me 5 from the pit of oblivion. 6
For you removed all my sins from your sight. 7
38:18 Indeed 8 Sheol does not give you thanks;
death does not 9 praise you.
Those who descend into the pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.
1 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.
2 tn Heb “and after a multitude of days.”
3 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.”
4 tn Heb “Look, for peace bitterness was to me bitter”; NAB “thus is my bitterness transformed into peace.”
5 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”).
6 tn בְּלִי (bÿli) most often appears as a negation, meaning “without,” suggesting the meaning “nothingness, oblivion,” here. Some translate “decay” or “destruction.”
7 tn Heb “for you threw behind your back all my sins.”
8 tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
9 tn The negative particle is understood by ellipsis in this line. See GKC 483 §152.z.