Mazmur 30:9-10

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 

30:10 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me!

O Lord, deliver me!” ⁶ 

Mazmur 32:3-4

32:3 When I refused to confess my sin, ⁷ 

my whole body wasted away, ⁸ 

while I groaned in pain all day long.

32:4 For day and night you tormented me; ⁹ 

you tried to destroy me ¹⁰  in the intense heat ¹¹  of summer. ¹²  (Selah)

Mazmur 38:2-4

38:2 For your arrows pierce ¹³  me,

and your hand presses me down. ¹⁴ 

38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; ¹⁵ 

I am deprived of health because of my sin. ¹⁶ 

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; ¹⁷ 

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

[30:9]  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.

[30:9]  ² tn Heb “What profit [is there] in my blood?” “Blood” here represents his life.

[30:9]  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).

[30:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “dust.” The words “of the grave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[30:9]  ⁵ tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “Of course not!”

[30:9]  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!

[30:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “be a helper to me.”

[32:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “when I was silent.”

[32:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “my bones became brittle.” The psalmist pictures himself as aging and growing physically weak. Trying to cover up his sin brought severe physical consequences.

[32:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “your hand was heavy upon me.”

[32:4]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “my [?] was turned.” The meaning of the Hebrew term לְשַׁד (lÿshad) is uncertain. A noun לָשָׁד (lashad, “cake”) is attested in Num 11:8, but it would make no sense to understand that word in this context. It is better to emend the form to לְשֻׁדִּי (lÿshuddiy, “to my destruction”) and understand “your hand” as the subject of the verb “was turned.” In this case the text reads, “[your hand] was turned to my destruction.” In Lam 3:3 the author laments that God’s “hand” was “turned” (הָפַךְ, hafakh) against him in a hostile sense.

[32:4]  sn You tried to destroy me. The psalmist’s statement reflects his perspective. As far as he was concerned, it seemed as if the Lord was trying to kill him.

[32:4]  ¹¹ tn The translation assumes that the plural form indicates degree. If one understands the form as a true plural, then one might translate, “in the times of drought.”

[32:4]  ¹² sn Summer. Perhaps the psalmist suffered during the hot season and perceived the very weather as being an instrument of divine judgment. Another option is that he compares his time of suffering to the uncomfortable and oppressive heat of summer.

[38:2]  ¹³ tn The verb Hebrew נָחַת (nakhat) apparently here means “penetrate, pierce” (note the use of the Qal in Prov 17:10). The psalmist pictures the Lord as a warrior who shoots arrows at him (see Ps 7:12-13).

[38:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and your hand [?] upon me.” The meaning of the verb נָחַת (nakhat) is unclear in this context. It is preferable to emend the form to וַתָּנַח (vattanakh) from the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”). In this case the text would read literally, “and your hand rests upon me” (see Isa 25:10, though the phrase is used in a positive sense there, unlike Ps 38:2).

[38:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.

[38:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”

[38:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “pass over my head.”