Psa 40:2 | NETfull | STEP | He lifted me out of the watery pit, out of the slimy mud. He placed my feet on a rock and gave me secure footing.

Psalms 40:2

2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, ^{▼▼ Heb “cistern of roaring.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “cistern, pit”) is used metaphorically here of Sheol, the place of death, which is sometimes depicted as a raging sea (see Ps 18:4, 15–16). The noun שָׁאוֹן (sha’on, “roaring”) refers elsewhere to the crashing sound of the sea’s waves (see Ps 65:7).}
out of the slimy mud. ^{▼▼ Heb “from the mud of mud.” The Hebrew phrase translated “slimy mud” employs an appositional genitive. Two synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.}
He placed my feet on a rock
and gave me secure footing. ^{▼▼ Heb “he established my footsteps.”}