Mazmur 6:4-5

6:4 Relent, Lord, rescue me! ¹ 

Deliver me because of your faithfulness! ² 

6:5 For no one remembers you in the realm of death, ³ 

In Sheol who gives you thanks? ⁴ 

Mazmur 27:13

27:13 Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience

the Lord’s favor in the land of the living? ⁵ 

Mazmur 31:22

31:22 I jumped to conclusions and said, ⁶ 

“I am cut off from your presence!” ⁷ 

But you heard my plea for mercy when I cried out to you for help.

Mazmur 116:8-9

116:8 Yes, ⁸  Lord, ⁹  you rescued my life from death,

and kept my feet from stumbling.

116:9 I will serve ¹⁰  the Lord

in the land ¹¹  of the living.

[6:4]  ¹ tn Heb “my being,” or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:4]  ² sn Deliver me because of your faithfulness. Though the psalmist is experiencing divine discipline, he realizes that God has made a commitment to him in the past, so he appeals to God’s faithfulness in his request for help.

[6:5]  ³ tn Heb “for there is not in death your remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זֵכֶר (zekher, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 30:4; 97:12. “Death” here refers to the realm of death where the dead reside. See the reference to Sheol in the next line.

[6:5]  ⁴ tn The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[6:5]  sn In Sheol who gives you thanks? 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 30:9; 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!

[27:13]  ⁵ tn In the Hebrew text the sentence is incomplete: “If I had not believed [I would] see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” The words “Where would I be” are supplied in the translation to clarify the intent of the statement.

[31:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “and I, I said in my haste.”

[31:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “from before your eyes.”

[116:8]  ⁸ tn Or “for.”

[116:8]  ⁹ tn “Lord” is supplied here in the translation for clarification.

[116:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “walk before” (see Ps 56:13). On the meaning of the Hebrew idiom, see the notes at 2 Kgs 20:3/Isa 38:3.

[116:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “lands, regions.”