Mazmur 30:3

30:3 O Lord, you pulled me ¹  up from Sheol;

you rescued me from among those descending into the grave. ² 

Mazmur 56:13

56:13 when you deliver ³  my life from death.

You keep my feet from stumbling, ⁴ 

so that I might serve ⁵  God as I enjoy life. ⁶ 

Mazmur 86:13

86:13 For you will extend your great loyal love to me, ⁷ 

and will deliver my life ⁸  from the depths of Sheol. ⁹ 

Mazmur 107:18

107:18 They lost their appetite for all food, ¹⁰ 

and they drew near the gates of death.

Mazmur 116:3-4

116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me, ¹¹ 

the snares ¹²  of Sheol confronted me.

I was confronted ¹³  with trouble and sorrow.

116:4 I called on the name of the Lord,

“Please Lord, rescue my life!”

[30:3]  ¹ tn Or “my life.”

[30:3]  ² 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.”

[56:13]  ³ tn The perfect verbal form is probably future perfect; the psalmist promises to make good on his vows once God has delivered him (see Pss 13:5; 52:9). (2) Another option is to understand the final two verses as being added later, after the Lord intervened on the psalmist’s behalf. In this case one may translate, “for you have delivered.” Other options include taking the perfect as (3) generalizing (“for you deliver”) or (4) rhetorical (“for you will”).

[56:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “are not my feet [kept] from stumbling?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course they are!” The question has been translated as an affirmation for the sake of clarification of meaning.

[56:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “walk before.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254; cf. the same idiom in 2 Kgs 20:3; Isa 38:3.

[56:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the light of life.” The phrase is used here and in Job 33:30.

[86:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “for your loyal love [is] great over me.”

[86:13]  ⁸ tn Or “for he will have delivered my life.” The verb form indicates a future perfect here.

[86:13]  ⁹ tn Or “lower Sheol.”

[107:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all food their appetite loathed.”

[116:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[116:3]  ¹² tn The Hebrew noun מצר (“straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. BDB 865 s.v. מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; NIV “the anguish of the grave”; NRSV “the pangs of Sheol”). However, HALOT 624 s.v. מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.

[116:3]  ¹³ tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.