“... “The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me” (116:3). Kathryn Roberts compares this torment to Jonah’s: “Waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head” (Jonah 2:5, see also Ps. 18:5; Roberts, in Van Harn and Strawn 2009: 301). Sheol simply is death, a vague, shadowy underworld where no praise is given. The place is best left unvisited. Yet the details are intentionally vague. Basil sees the specific pain of a mother in childbirth (Homilies on the Psalms 22, in Wesselschmidt 2007: 286). Alter (2007: 411) suggests that such language could refer to battle. Kraus (1993: 386) imagines more literally a dungeon or prison. ...”