Discovery BoxPsalms 28:1 
ContextBy David.
28:1 To you, O Lord, I cry out!
My protector, 2 do not ignore me! 3
If you do not respond to me, 4
I will join 5 those who are descending into the grave. 6
Psalms 30:3
Context30:3 O Lord, you pulled me 7 up from Sheol;
you rescued me from among those descending into the grave. 8
Psalms 30:9
Context30:9 “What 9 profit is there in taking my life, 10
in my descending into the Pit? 11
Can the dust of the grave 12 praise you?
Can it declare your loyalty? 13
Psalms 143:7
Context143:7 Answer me quickly, Lord!
My strength is fading. 14
Do not reject me, 15
1 sn Psalm 28. The author looks to the Lord for vindication, asks that the wicked be repaid in full for their evil deeds, and affirms his confidence that the Lord will protect his own.
2 tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.
3 tn Heb “do not be deaf from me.”
4 tn Heb “lest [if] you are silent from me.”
5 tn Heb “I will be equal with.”
6 tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.
7 tn Or “my life.”
8 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.”
9 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.
10 tn Heb “What profit [is there] in my blood?” “Blood” here represents his life.
11 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).
12 tn Heb “dust.” The words “of the grave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
13 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!
14 tn Heb “my spirit is failing.”
15 tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” (1) can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) can carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
16 tn Heb “I will be equal with.”
17 tn Heb “the pit.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit; cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See Ps 28:1.
