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
40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, 6
out of the slimy mud. 7
He placed my feet on a rock
and gave me secure footing. 8
57:6 They have prepared a net to trap me; 9
I am discouraged. 10
They have dug a pit for me. 11
They will fall 12 into it! (Selah)
69:15 Don’t let the current overpower me!
Don’t let the deep swallow me up!
Don’t let the pit 13 devour me! 14
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.
2 tn Heb “What profit [is there] in my blood?” “Blood” here represents his life.
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).
4 tn Heb “dust.” The words “of the grave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “Of course not!”
sn According to the OT, those who descend into the realm of death/Sheol are cut off from God’s mighty deeds and from the worshiping covenant community that experiences divine intervention (Pss 6:5; 88:10-12; Isa 38:18). In his effort to elicit a positive divine response, the psalmist reminds God that he will receive no praise or glory if he allows the psalmist to die. Dead men do not praise God!
6 tn Heb “cistern of roaring.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “cistern, pit”) is used metaphorically here of Sheol, the place of death, which is sometimes depicted as a raging sea (see Ps 18:4, 15-16). The noun שָׁאוֹן (sha’on, “roaring”) refers elsewhere to the crashing sound of the sea’s waves (see Ps 65:7).
7 tn Heb “from the mud of mud.” The Hebrew phrase translated “slimy mud” employs an appositional genitive. Two synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.
8 tn Heb “he established my footsteps.”
9 tn Heb “for my feet.”
10 tn Heb “my life bends low.” 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).
11 tn Heb “before me.”
12 tn The perfect form is used rhetorically here to express the psalmist’s certitude. The demise of the enemies is so certain that he can speak of it as already accomplished.
13 tn Heb “well,” which here symbolizes the place of the dead (cf. Ps 55:23).
14 tn Heb “do not let the well close its mouth upon me.”