2 Samuel 22:5

Hebrew Bible

3 My God is my rocky summit where I take shelter, my shield, the horn that saves me, my stronghold, my refuge, my savior. You save me from violence! 4 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I was delivered from my enemies. 5 The waves of death engulfed me; the currents of chaos overwhelmed me. 6 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me; the snares of death trapped me. 7 In my distress I called to the Lord; I called to my God. From his heavenly temple he heard my voice; he listened to my cry for help.

Psalm 69:15

Hebrew Bible

13 O Lord, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me. O God, because of your great loyal love, answer me with your faithful deliverance. 14 Rescue me from the mud. Don’t let me sink. Deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep water. 15 Don’t let the current overpower me. Don’t let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the Pit devour me. 16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good. Because of your great compassion, turn toward me. 17 Do not ignore your servant, for I am in trouble. Answer me right away.

 Notes and References

"... the earth as the place where the bodies of other people are to be found would surely have to be mentioned too. But in any case, the object of both clauses is 'the dead'. The language is clearly not intended to distinguish soul and body, but simply to speak of the return of the dead. There seem then to be two possible explanations for the reference to the sea. It may be the place for a special category of the dead: those who have died at sea. Whereas those who are buried in the earth are thought of as being in SheollHades, those who die at sea are thought of as being in the subterranean ocean. But there seems to be no other evidence for this distinction. So more probably, and in the light of several Old Testament passages which closely associate the subterranean ocean with Sheol (e.g. 2 Samuel 22:5-6; Job 26:5; Psalm 69:15), the sea is here simply another synonym for Sheol ..."

Bauckham, Richard The Fate of the Dead: Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (pp. 280-281) Brill, 1998

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