Mazmur 49:15

49:15 But ¹  God will rescue ²  my life ³  from the power ⁴  of Sheol;

certainly ⁵  he will pull me to safety. ⁶  (Selah)

Mazmur 56:13

56:13 when you deliver ⁷  my life from death.

You keep my feet from stumbling, ⁸ 

so that I might serve ⁹  God as I enjoy life. ¹⁰ 

Ayub 33:28-30

33:28 He redeemed my life ¹¹ 

from going down to the place of corruption,

and my life sees the light!’

Elihu’s Appeal to Job ¹² 

33:29 “Indeed, God does all these things,

twice, three times, in his dealings ¹³  with a person,

33:30 to turn back his life from the place of corruption,

that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

[49:15]  ¹ tn Or “certainly.”

[49:15]  ² tn Or “redeem.”

[49:15]  ³ tn Or “me.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[49:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “hand.”

[49:15]  ⁵ tn Or “for.”

[49:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “he will take me.” To improve the poetic balance of the verse, some move the words “from the power of Sheol” to the following line. The verse would then read: “But God will rescue my life; / from the power of Sheol he will certainly deliver me” (cf. NEB).

[49:15]  sn According to some, the psalmist here anticipates the resurrection (or at least an afterlife in God’s presence). But it is more likely that the psalmist here expresses his hope that God will rescue him from premature death at the hands of the rich oppressors denounced in the psalm. The psalmist is well aware that all (the wise and foolish) die (see vv. 7-12), but he is confident God will lead him safely through the present “times of trouble” (v. 5) and sweep the wicked away to their final destiny. The theme is a common one in the so-called wisdom psalms (see Pss 1, 34, 37, 112). For a fuller discussion of the psalmists’ view of the afterlife, see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “A Theology of the Psalms,” A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, 284-88.

[56:13]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in the light of life.” The phrase is used here and in Job 33:30.

[33:28]  ¹¹ sn See note on “him” in v. 24.

[33:29]  ¹² sn Elihu will repeat these instructions for Job to listen, over and over in painful repetition. See note on the heading to 32:1.

[33:29]  ¹³ tn The phrase “in his dealings” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarification.