Psalms 40:2

He lifted me out of the watery pit, ¹  out of the slimy mud. ²  He placed my feet on a rock and gave me secure footing. ³ 

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.

He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.

He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn't slip.

He took me up out of a deep waste place, out of the soft and sticky earth; he put my feet on a rock, and made my steps certain.

He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.

He lifted me out of the watery pit, ¹  out of the slimy mud. ²  He placed my feet on a rock and gave me secure footing. ³ 

¹ 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).

² 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.

³ tn Heb “he established my footsteps.”