from their pit. The form
of the Hebrew noun is plural and also odd. Some scholars emend the word as it
stands, misheḥitotam, to mishaḥat ḥayatam, “from the Pit their
life,” which reads more smoothly. In any case, the reference to near death is
not in doubt. (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W.
Norton & Company, 2019], 3:257)
