View source for The Meaning of חָפְשִׁי in Ps 88:6

Back to [[Psalm 88]].

Exegetical issues for Psalm 88: 
* [[The Meaning of חָפְשִׁי in Ps 88:6]]
* [[The Text and Meaning of Ps. 88:16b]]
* [[The Text and Meaning of Ps. 88:19b]]

=Introduction= 
The traditional Hebrew text of Ps 88:6 reads as follows:<ref>Text copied from [https://hb.openscriptures.org/read/ Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible].</ref>
:בַּמֵּתִ֗ים חָ֫פְשִׁ֥י כְּמ֤וֹ חֲלָלִ֨ים ׀ שֹׁ֥כְבֵי קֶ֗בֶר אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹ֣א זְכַרְתָּ֣ם ע֑וֹד וְ֝הֵ֗מָּה מִיָּדְךָ֥ נִגְזָֽרוּ. 

The verse makes up part of the first cycle of lament in the psalm, in which the psalmist compares himself to a dead person, literally claiming to be in the underworld in v. 4. The word חָפְשִׁי in this verse is one of the most enigmatic and unclear words in the whole psalm, as is shown by the variety of readings we find in the various [https://psalms.scriptura.org/w/What_does_it_mean_to_be_%22free%22_when_dead%3F#Modern Modern Translations]. We can categorize these various translations into three groups:
* חָפְשִׁי as an adjective meaning ''released, free, set loose'': "like one '''set loose''' among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand." (ESV)
* חָפְשִׁי as an adjective meaning ''abandoned, forsaken, cast off, secluded, set apart, expelled'': "'''abandoned''' among the dead. I am like the slain lying in the grave, whom you no longer remember, and who are cut off from your care." (CSB).
* חָפְשִׁי as a noun meaning ''abode'' or ''couch'': "'''My couch''' is among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave. You remember them no more; they are cut off from your influence." (NAB)
<!--
The adjective חָפְשִׁי "free, liberated" appears in the vast majority of cases in the Bible in contexts of liberation from slavery.<ref>In one occurrence it is said of exemption from taxation (1 Sam 17:25); in another occurrence it is said of a freed wild donkey (Job 39:5).</ref> It is only in our verse that the meaning of חָפְשִׁי and its relation to death is not intuitive
-->

=Argument Maps= 
==חָפְשִׁי as an adjective meaning "free"==
Some translations (including the ancient translations) understand חָפְשִׁי as an adjective meaning "free." The ESV, for example, says, "like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand." (ESV). 
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[Free]: חָפְשִׁי is an adjective meaning "free." #dispreferred
 + <Common usage of חָפְשִׁי>:The word חָפְשִׁי appears in the vast majority of cases in the Bible as an adjective in contexts of liberation from slavery ("free"). #dispreferred
 + <Ancient versions>: All of the ancient translations interpreted חָפְשִׁי as an adjective meaning ‘free.’ #dispreferred
  + [Greek, Latin and Syriac translations]:  ἐν νεκροῖς ἐλεύθερος (LXX); ἐν τεθνηκόσιν ἐλεύθερος (Aquila); ἐντὸς νεκρῶν ἀφεθεὶς ἐλεύθερος (Symmachus); inter mortuos liber (Jerome); :  ܒܝܬ ܡܝ̈ܬܐ ܒܪ ܚܐܪ̈ܐ "A freed one (lit. son of the free) among the dead" (Peshitta). #dispreferred
  + [Targum]: Targum elaborates with a non-literal midrashic paraphrase on the Hebrew text, interpreting 'freedom' as 'freedom from strife': “like the wicked who die and do not return, (who) are made free of strife”. #dispreferred
 + <Death as freedom>: Death is associated with freedom from the burdens of life. #dispreferred
  + <Job's viewpoint>: Job lengthy description of the Underworld as a place of relief, where everyone is equal and free from the toil and troubles of the World of the Living, includes an explicit mention of חָפְשִׁי. #dispreferred
   + [Job 3:19]:  קָטֹ֣ן וְ֭גָדוֹל שָׁ֣ם ה֑וּא וְ֝עֶ֗בֶד חָפְשִׁ֥י מֵאֲדֹנָֽיו "Rich and poor are both there, and the slave is free from his master." (NLT). #dispreferred
  + [Targum]: Targum elaborates with a non-literal midrashic paraphrase on the Hebrew text, interpreting 'freedom' as 'freedom from strife': “like the wicked who die and do not return, (who) are made free of strife”. #dispreferred
   <_ <Later interpretation>
  + [Jewish Classical commentaries]: Later commentaries understand freedom as freedom from the troubles of life. (Rashi :C:; Radak :C:; Metzudat David :C:) #dispreferred
   <_ <Later interpretation>
  + [Babylonian Talmud]: The Talmud (and Ebn Ezra) understand freedom as exemption from the observance of the Law. (Ebn Ezra :C:) #dispreferred
   <_ <Later interpretation>: Targum has a plethora of Midrashic and Aggadic additions which represent a set of beliefs that were not necessarily shared by the writer of the psalm in an earlier period (Stec 2004, 4 :M:). The same applies to later Rabbinical Literature and to Medieval and Early Modern Jewish commentaries.  
 + <Exemption from one's earthly duties>: The adjective "free" may be understood as the new (positive) status of the psalmist as exempted from his earthly duties. #dispreferred
  + <King Uzziah's retirement>: King Uzziah who was struck with leprosy was confined to a place called בִּית הׂחָפְשִׁית, understood by some to mean "The house of Freedom", in which the king is free from the normal burdens of royal functions. (Tate 1990, 396 :C:) #dispreferred
   + [2 Kgs 15:5 & 2 Chr 26:21 ]: וַיְהִ֤י מְצֹרָע֙ עַד־י֣וֹם מֹת֔וֹ וַיֵּ֖שֶׁב בְּבֵ֣ית הַחָפְשִׁ֑ית (2 Kgs 15:5); REB translates as “he was relieved of all duties and lived in his palace.” #dispreferred
 - <General tone of the psalm>: The psalm has, with no exceptions, a tone of utter despair, loneliness and gloominess. The positive connotations of relief and peaceful rest conveyed by the various literal interpretations of חַפְשִׁי do not correspond to that tone.
 - <Contextual mismatch>: The psalmist constantly laments his detachment from God in the underworld. The idea that he would explicitly state his own exemption from the worship of YHWH by the word חַפְשִׁי is therefore less likely.  
</argdown>

==חָפְשִׁי as an adjective meaning "abandoned" / "cast off" (preferred)==
Many modern translations read חָפְשִׁי with the notion of being "abandoned" or "cast off": "I am abandoned among the dead; I am like the slain lying in their graves, those you have forgotten completely, who are beyond your help" (GNT). 
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[Abandoned, cast off]: חָפְשִׁי is an adjective denoting a special status: "abandoned" or "cast off." 
 + <2 Chron 26:21>
 - <Biblical usage>: All instances of the adjective חָפְשִׁי in the Bible, bar the questionable one in our verse, have the meaning of "free" in the context of slavery (or working animal). #dispreferred
 + <חָפְשִׁי as a status>: The word חָפְשִׁי may serve as a term for a certain status of "outcasts", in society or in the Underworld. 
   + <Targum paraphrase>: For בַּמֵּתִים חָפְשִׁי the Targum offers an elaborate midrash-like paraphrase that goes far from the literal text. In this version, the psalmist compares himself to a specific category of the dead, namely the "wicked". This might be a hint to an understanding of this clause as referring to a status.
    + [Targum]: היך רשיעיא דמיתו ולא תבו יתעבדו בני חורין מן מצותא “like the wicked who die and do not return, (who) are made free of strife” (Stec 2004, 204 :M:). 
    - <Later theological increment>: The fact that the Targum added a comparison to the "wicked" does not necessarily mean that they were looking to specify and focus on the term חָפְשִׁי, but rather to emphasize that from their theological point of view,  unlike the Biblical one, it is only the wicked ones who have no hope in the underworld, and it is to this group only among the dead that the psalmist compares himself. As a matter of fact, חפשי gets a treatment towards the end of the paraphrase as "free from strife".  #dispreferred
   + <חָפְשִׁי as a tag>: חָפְשִׁי is likely to be related to a certain status tagged to lepers.
    + <בֵּית הַחָפְשִׁית in the Bible>: The phrase בֵּית הַחָפְשִׁית in 2 Chron 26:21 refers to a place of isolation and quarantine for lepers (cf. Kiel 1990, 795 :C:).
     + [2 Chron 26:21]: "And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house (בֵּ֤ית הַֽחָפְשִׁית֙), for he was excluded (נִגְזַ֖ר) from the house of the LORD." (ESV)
   + <חָפְשִׁי as "divorced" from God>: חָפְשִׁי indicates a status marking a separation from God against one's will.
    + <2 Chron 26:21>: A strong textual affinity exists between our verse and the one from 2 Chron, in both of which one is said to be "cut off" (נגזר): King Uzziah is cut off from the house of YHWH because of leprosy in 2 Chron, while the psalmist is cut off from YHWH's care in our psalm. Both texts therefore speak about the special status of a person that brings about his separation from YHWH, a painful punishment with an impact of "divorce" from God, of being abandoned and expelled by him into a place where he has no way to reach him.   
     + [2 Chron 26:21]
     + [Ps 88:6]: "חָפְשִׁי among the dead, just like the slain who are lying in the tomb, whom you do not remember anymore, as they have been cut off (נִגְזָרוּ) from your care."
   + <חָפְשִׁי as a low status among the dead>: The term חָפְשִׁי indicates a low status tagged to a subset of the dead in the underworld.
    + <Syntax of v. 6a>: The psalmist defines himself in our verse as בַּמֵּתִים חָפְשִׁי ("חָפְשִׁי among the dead"), an indication to him belonging to a certain subset, called חָפְשִׁי, among the dead.
     <_ <בַּמֵּתִים חָפְשִׁי in apposition>: בַּמֵּתִים, rather than defining the reference group of חָפְשִׁי ("I am an outcast among the dead") stands in apposition to it, so that the latter is logically derived from the former ("I am (considered as one) among the dead, namely an outcast (for society)"). #dispreferred
      + <Accents of v. 6a>: The ''revia'' at בַּמֵּּתִים marks a pause between this word and חָפְשִׁי. #dispreferred
    + <חֲלָלִים as a low status among the dead>: Two words apart from חָפְשִׁי in our verse, the psalmist compares himself, of all types of dead, to חֲלָלִים 'the slain ones': 'in the hierarchy of the world of the dead he is in the lowest category, the "expelled"... and the "slain (with the sword: in war or by execution)" who are thrown into mass graves' (Hossfeld and Zenger 2005, 395 :C:).
    + <''bt ḫpṭt'' in Ugaritic>: In the Baal epic we encounter  ''bt ḫpṭt'', ‘house of the ḫupšu-status’ or ‘house of the rank of the ḫupšu-mercenaries’ which describes an establishment in low regard that served in Ugarit as a reference to the underworld, and to the worst status in the underworld itself.  We seem to have a similar transfer of meaning in v. 6, as a ‘freedperson’ could be released into a thoroughly despised social condition... he has already reached the condition that is the lowest and worst even in the underworld. (Hossfeld and Zenger 2005, 390,395 :C:).
     - <Etymology questionable>: 'The meaning of the Ugaritic ''hptt'' is uncertain and is variously rendered as “filthy” or “uncleanness” or as “netherworld (Tate 1990:396 :C:). Tromp lists no less than six different etymologies to this term. (Tromp 1969, 156-157 :M:) #dispreferred
     <_ <Lexical borrowing>: The striking similarity between ''bt ḫpṭt'' and בֵּית הַחָפְשִׁית indicates a likely lexical borrowing. Nevertheless, it being a loanword does not mean that the original Ugaritic or Akkadian social status encoded in ''ḫpṭt'' was preserved in Israel by the time we encounter בֵּית הַחָפְשִׁית. Therefore, we cannot assume that חָפְשִׁי necessarily kept the echoes of a particular social class. #dispreferred
     + [UT 51: VIII]: wrd.btḫpṭt  ars.tspr.by  rdm ars. ‘And go down to the house of the rank of the ḫupšu-mercenaries in the underworld, be counted among those who descend into the underworld’ (Hossfeld and Zenger 2005:390e :C:)
     + [Akkadian equivalent]: 'Akk. ḫupšu, indication of low status CAD 6:241f, AHw. 357a, person halfway between a serf and a freeman, often soldiers' (HALOT 1994-2000 :L:)
 + <General tone of the psalm>: This reading matches the general tone of the psalm, lamenting his abandonment by YHWH.  
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<!--
      - <חָפְשִׁי as a social status in the Bible>: וְאֵת בֵּית אָבִיו יַעֲשֶׂה חָפְשִׁי בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל
The interesting and single occurrence of חָפְשִׁי not in a context of liberation from slavery in 1Sam 17:25, is an indication to חָפְשִׁי being used in Israel as a social status, albeit a positive one (probably, exemption from taxes). 
       - [1Sam 17:25]: וְאֵת בֵּית אָבִיו יַעֲשֶׂה חָפְשִׁי בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל "and the man’s entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!" (NLT)

     + <The social status of lepers>: Lepers were considered as unclean as dead and a strong social connection was established between leprosy and death.
      + [Numbers 12:12]: Aaron bids Moses to pray to God to cure Miriam of the leprosy she has contracted, saying "אַל-נָא תְהִי כַּמֵּת ".
      + [Leviticus 13:45-46]: Lepers are required to be quarantined, practice mourning customs and warn anyone approaching them of their impurity: וְהַצָּרוּעַ אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ הַנֶּגַע בְּגָדָיו יִהְיוּ פְרֻמִים וְרֹאשׁוֹ יִהְיֶה פָרוּעַ וְעַל-שָׂפָם יַעְטֶה וְטָמֵא טָמֵא יִקְרָא. כָּל-יְמֵי אֲשֶׁר הַנֶּגַע בּוֹ יִטְמָא טָמֵא הוּא  בָּדָד יֵשֵׁב מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה מוֹשָׁבוֹ "" (The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.). 
-->

==חָפְשִׁי as a noun + possessive suffix meaning "my couch"==
Some Modern Translations and commentaries (Dahood 1974; Tromp 1969; Hitzig 1835) understand חָפְשִׁי as a segolated noun (חֹפַשׁ) with a possessive suffix (1st person singular). This noun is understood as "bed" or "cot". The various translations of the "my abode is among the dead", "my cot is among the dead" or "I am lying down among the dead" type are all derivatives of this hypothesis.
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[My couch]: חָפְשִׁי is a segolated noun חֹפֶשׁ ( "bed" or "cot") with a first person pronominal suffix ("my"). #dispreferred
 + <Immediate context>: Following בַּמֵּתִים חָפְשִׁי in our verse we see the phrase כְּמוֹ חֲלָלִים שֹׁכְבֵי קֶבֶר. The fact that of all possible attributes the psalmist chooses to describe the "slain ones" as "lying down" strengthens the reading of the parallel חָפְשִׁי as a noun indicating a place for lying down. #dispreferred
 + <Underworld as a hospital with beds>: "Sheol is a house with a forbidding interior: it is a prison, a hospital of lugubrious kind. There are rooms in this dwelling-place… and in this house there are beds" (Tromp 1969, 156 :M:). #dispreferred
  + [Images of rooms and beds in Sheol attested in the Bible]: אִם אֶסַּק שָׁמַיִם שָׁם אָתָּה וְאַצִּיעָה שְּׁאוֹל הִנֶּךָּ 'If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.' (Ps 139:8); אִם-אֲקַוֶּה שְׁאוֹל בֵּיתִי בַּחֹשֶׁךְ רִפַּדְתִּי יְצוּעָי 'If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness' (Job 17:13); דַּרְכֵי שְׁאוֹל בֵּיתָהּ יֹרְדוֹת אֶל-חַדְרֵי-מָוֶת 'Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death' (Prov 7:27). #dispreferred
  + <Ugaritic bt ḫpṭt>: The word ḫpṭt in the Ugaritic phrase bt ḫpṭt derives historically from the root ḫbṯ “to be base, vile." Hence, bt ḫpṭt might refer to an “infirmary” or a “charnel house” (Tromp 1969, 158 :M:, citing Albright and Pope). This etymology may strengthen the idea of the Underworld as a dreadful hospital where all the dead lie on beds. #dispreferred
   - <Etymology questionable>: 'The meaning of the Ugaritic ''hptt'' is uncertain and is variously rendered as “filthy” or “uncleanness” or as “netherworld (Tate 1990, 396 :C:). Even if the etymology were correct, it would still lead us astray from ''hptt'' and חֹפֶשׁ as 'bed' since it is based on a root related to 'vileness' and 'despise', which has nothing to do with the notion sought for of 'bed'.
 + <Etymology>: The basic meaning of the root חפש is 'to set loose' or 'spread out loose'. The meaning 'bed, couch' derives from a secondary semantic shift of this root to get 'place of spreading out loose' or 'place of prostrating', namely 'bed' (Gesenius 1846, 297 :L:).  #dispreferred
   + <Ezek 27:10>: The hapax legomenon חֹפֶשׁ in Ezek 27:10 means 'loosely spreading out' with the phrase בִגְדֵי-חֹפֶשׁ לְרִכְבָּה interpreted as 'cloths spread out for riding' (Gesenius 1846, 297 :L:). #dispreferred
    + [Ezek 27:20]: דְּדָן רֹכַלְתֵּךְ בְּבִגְדֵי-חֹפֶשׁ לְרִכְבָּה #dispreferred
    - <חֹפֶשׁ as fabric for saddlecloths>: חֹפֶשׁ in Ezekiel 27:10 is a kind of a fabric used for saddlecloths (HALOT :L:; so most modern translations).
      + <חֹפֶשׁ in context>: This reading of the hapax legomenon as "saddlecloths" makes much sense, as the whole section in Ezekiel's prophecy gives a very detailed description of all kinds of wares that Tyre was trading with its neighbors. 
   + <Arabic cognate>: Arabic has the equivalent ḫfš 'to stretch out' (Gesenius 1846, 297 :L:).  #dispreferred
 + <Syntactic simplicity>: Interpreting חָפְשִׁי as a noun phrase ("my bed") results in a verbless clause ("my bed is among the dead"), which is a simpler syntactic construction than the adjectival reading of חָפְשִׁי ("free among the dead"). #dispreferred
</argdown>
<!--
   + <Possible emendation of the text>: One way to read the Ugaritic ''bt ḫpṭt'' is as 'house of cots'. If we apply this to the Hebrew חֹפֶשׁ in v. 6a, reading it as "bed", an emendation of 6b to כְּמוֹ חֲלָלִים '''מִשְׁכָּבִי''' קֵֶבֶר with a supposed haplography to get 'like the slaughtered '''my couch''' is in the grave', brings about a neat parallelism with 6a. One of the justifications for this emendation is a metrical one, the emended text being balanced in terms of syllabic count. (Dahood 1974, 301 :C:). #dispreferred
    - <Unnecessary emendation>: Dahood's emendation is unnecessary as the MT is not difficult or grammatically problematic, and all ancient versions and their various manuscripts agree with MT.   
-->

=Conclusion (B)= 
In conclusion, we take the second option as our preferred reading, namely the adjective חָפְשִׁי as "expelled" or "cast off." Some evidence, both biblical and external, supports this conclusion. For instance, the close textual affinity to בֵּית הַחָפְשִׁית in 2 Kings and particularly in 2 Chronicles, a place which is widely understood as one where lepers were isolated from society. We therefore prefer to compare the psalmist's feelings to those of a leper: isolated from society, expelled, despised, and cut off from God's care. A different, external evidence is the interesting connection to Ugaritic ''bt ḫpṭt'', a term used for the Underworld and particularly to the lowest class in the Underworld, based on a denomination for a lower social class in Ugarit, which may serve as a hint to the fact that the term חָפְשִׁי has to do with a social status (transferred to the society of the Dead). We therefore use, of all the various negative modern translations, the passive participle "cast off" (which in addition to its notion of "being thrown away" has also the connotation of being despised). Another good option would be the noun "outcast" with its social connotation of excommunication. This interpretation also sheds light on the psalmist's condition in the wider context of the psalm: it is only from this point on that we are aware of the fact that the psalmist is not only suffering and weak, but also excommunicated and possibly suffering of leprosy, a fact that is repeated again, albeit implicitly, in v. 9.

=Research= 
==Translations== 
===Ancient=== 
* LXX: ἐν νεκροῖς ἐλεύθερος <ref>[https://archive.org/details/PsalmiCumOdis/page/n231/mode/2up?view=theater Rahlfs 1931]. LXX has this line as part of v. 5.</ref>
** ”free among corpses” <ref>[https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/24-ps-nets.pdf NETS].</ref>
* Aquila: ἐν τεθνηκόσιν ἐλεύθερος <ref>[https://archive.org/details/origenhexapla02unknuoft/page/238/mode/2up?view=theater ORIGENIS HEXAPLORUM]</ref>
** ”free among the dead”
* Symmachus: ἐντὸς νεκρῶν ἀφεθεὶς ἐλεύθερος <ref>[https://archive.org/details/origenhexapla02unknuoft/page/238/mode/2up?view=theater ORIGENIS HEXAPLORUM]</ref>
** ”set free among corpses”
* Jerome: inter mortuos liber  <ref>[https://archive.org/details/vulgata_weber_gryson/page/880/mode/2up?view=theater Weber-Gryson 4th edition., 1994]</ref>
** “free among the dead”
* Targum: היך רשיעיא דמיתו ולא תבו יתעבדו בני חורין מן מצותא <ref>[https://cal.huc.edu/index.html CAL]</ref>
** “like the wicked who die and do not return, (who) are made free of strife” <ref>Stec 2004:166.</ref>
* Peshitta:  ܒܝܬ ܡܝ̈ܬܐ ܒܪ ܚܐܪ̈ܐ  <ref>[https://cal.huc.edu/index.html CAL]</ref>
** "A freed one (lit. son of the free) among the dead" <ref>Taylor 2020:359.</ref>

===Modern===
====Classic (Early Modern)====
=====free=====
“Free among the dead” (KJV, Geneva Bible of 1587)
====Modern====
=====released / set loose=====
* "Released among the dead" (LSB)
* "released to remain with the dead" (ISV)
* "like one set loose among the dead" (ESV)
=====adrift =====
* adrift among the dead (NET)
=====abandoned / forsaken / cast off / outcast=====
* “forsaken among the dead” (BSB, NASB 1995)
* “abandoned among the dead” (GNT, NASB, Amplified Bible, CSB, HCSB)
* “They have left me among the dead” (NLT)
* "Cast off among the dead" (ASV)
* "Among the dead an outcast" (Goldingay 2007)
* “abandonado entre los muertos” (RVR95) 
* “Estoy abandonado entre difuntos” (DHH)
* “Ich liege unter den Toten verlassen” (Luther 2017)
=====secluded / set apart / expelled=====
* “I am set apart with the dead” (NIV)
* “reclus parmi les morts” (TOB)
* “Me han puesto aparte, entre los muertos” (NVI)
* “Confinado entre los muertos” (BTX4) 
* “Ausgestoßen unter den Toten” (EÜ, ZÜR)
=====lying down / "My couch is among the dead"=====
* "Je suis étendu parmi les morts" (NBS, NVSR, S21)
* “unter die Toten hingestreckt” (ELB)
* "My couch is among the dead" (NAB)
=====“My abode is among the dead”=====
* C’est au milieu des morts ╵que j’ai ma place (BDS)
* Ma place est au milieu des morts (PDV)
* Ma place est parmi les morts (NFC)

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==Secondary Literature== 
===Commentaries===
====Rashi====
הנני בין המתים חפשי מן העולם וכל שהם המתים חפשים מן העולם “I am among the dead, liberated from the world, inasmuch as the dead ones are liberated from the world”. <ref>[https://www.sefaria.org.il/Rashi_on_Psalms.88.6?lang=he Sefaria].</ref>

====Radak====
טוב לי שאהיה עם המתים שאהיה חפשי ועתה אני עבד: “I’m better off with the dead, as I will be liberated, whereas now I am enslaved”. <ref>[https://www.sefaria.org.il/Radak_on_Psalms.88.6?lang=he Sefaria].</ref>

====Metsudat David====
אני נמנה בין המתים שהמה חפשים ממקרי העולם ועמלו “I’m counted among the dead, who are liberated from the events of the world and its toil”. <ref>[https://www.sefaria.org.il/Metzudat_David_on_Psalms.88.6?lang=he Sefaria].</ref>

====Ebn Ezra====
מכל המצות ומכל עבודות הגוף וממלכי האדמה “From all the commandments and from all the physical toils and from the earthly kings”. <ref>[https://www.sefaria.org.il/Ibn_Ezra_on_Psalms.88.6.1?lang=he Sefaria].</ref>

====Babylonian Talmud ====
שכיון שמת בטל מן התורה ומן המצות ואין להקב"ה שבח בו והיינו דאמר ר' יוחנן מאי דכתיב (תהילים פח) במתים חפשי כיון שמת אדם נעשה חפשי מן התורה ומן המצות
"Since (one) has died, one is exempted from the Law and from the Commandments… as R. Yohanan said: “What is the meaning of Ps. 88 ‘free among the dead’? (the meaning is that) since one has died, one has become free from the Law and from the Commandments”." <ref>Talmud, b. Shabbat 30a [https://www.sefaria.org.il/Shabbat.30a.2?lang=he Sefaria].</ref>

====Tate 1990:396====
The usual meaning of ‘חָפְשִׁי is “free” (e.g., Exod 21:2, 5; Deut 15:12, 13, 18; Job 3:19; Isa 58:6. KJV translates literally as “free among the dead,” but Rsv goes to “forsaken.” NEB has “abandoned,” so also NV with the note “lit. ‘released.’” LXX supports “free” with ἐλεύθερος, and Symm has ἀφεθεὶς ἐλεύθερος (“one set free”). Nevertheless, proposals for textual changes have been prolific ... One major alternative is to assume that ‘חָפְשִׁי means “cot/couch/bed,” utilizing the meaning of חֹפֶשׁ in Ezek 27:20 and understanding it as “bed/couch.” Attempts have been made to strengthen this understanding from the usage of בְּבֵית הַחָפְשִׁית (“in the separate house”), referring to a king’s case of leprosy and separation from the normal community (cf. 2 Chr 26:21) in 2 Kgs 15:5. Dahood (II, 304) argues that this is equal to Ugaritic ''hpttin'' UT 51.8.78: ''wrd bt hptt ars'' which he reads as “and go down to the nether house of cots,” citing also the motif of Sheol as a place of beds in such texts as Ps 139:8; Job 17:13; Prov 7:27. Dahood translates: “In Death is my cot”; Haag is similar. However, this approach is beset with difficulties. The meaning of the Ugaritic ''hptt'' is uncertain and is variously rendered as “filthy” or “uncleanness” or as “netherworld” (Anderson, II, 625). The meaning of בְּבִגְדֵי-חֹפֶשׁ in Ezek 27:20 (WAN™77322) is usually taken as something like “saddle-cloths” and probably has nothing to do with “cot” or “bed.” The expressions in 2 Kgs 15:5 // 2 Chr 26:21 may refer to the king’s “house of freedom” rather than separation to some sort of unclean place. The king is free from the normal burdens (cf. 1 Sam 17:25) of royal functions. REB translates 2 Kgs 15:5 as “he was relieved of all duties and lived in his palace.” Thus it seems better to retain the sense of “free” in Ps 88:6. I have, however, understood it in an ironic sense: “relieved of duties among the dead!’—equal to the strong man without strength in 5b and those who lie in the grave.

====Dahood 1974: 304====
Relating חָפְשִׁי to Ugar. ḫpṭt in wrd bt ḫpṭt arṣ. “And go down to the nether house of cots”, which evidently equals 2Kings 15:5 and 2Chr 26:21 בֵּית הַחָפְשִׁית. Scholars dispute over the precise meaning of Ugar. bt ḫpṭt, but Gordon’s tentative definition “infirmary” coincides with the sense proposed for in the psalm and with the motif of Sheol as a place of beds in such texts as Ps. 139:8 “If I make Sheol my bed you are there”; Job 17:13 “If I call Sheol my house, spread my couch in Darkness”; Proverbs 7:27 “the rooms of Death”. In support of this definition of חֹפֶשׁ one may cite the difficult phrase in Ezek 27:20 בִּגְדֵי חֹפֶשׁ לְרִכְבָּה “bedspreads for riding.”

====Tromp 1969: 156-159<ref>Nicholas J. Tromp, Primitive conceptions of Death and the Nether World in the Old Testament, Rome, 1969</ref>====
p. 156
Sheol is a house with a forbidding interior: it is a prison, a hospital of lugubrious kind. There are rooms in this dwelling-place: (משלי, 7,27)… and in this house there are beds… This idea is transferred to the nether world in Ez. 32:25. The same connection with the grave is obvious in Is. 14:11.
p. 158
The expression (בַּמֵּתִים חָפְשִׁי) reminds one of bt ḫpṭt, a Ugaritic name for the nether world. Van Selms… explains tḫpṭt as a feminine substantive with prefixed t- from the root ḫpṭ “to be free”: tḫpṭt is “tax-free land”. As the grave is a piece of land, proper to the dead and received from the earth-gods, it can obtain that name as well. The latter argument is rather speculative…
Albright, discussing the word ḫbṯ “to be base, vile” which became Canaanite ḫpṯ. Pope supposes this interpretation… in translating the expression under discussion as “infirmary” or “charnel house”.
p. 159
Gray proposes a ḫpṯ “to separate”. It is used for mercenaries set free for military service… GB 251A connects the word in Ps. 88:6 with חֹפֶשׁ, occurring in Ez. 27:20 and translated “Reitdecken”… In this light, the term in Ps. 88 would mean “cover”, ergo “couch”.

====Hitzig 1835====
Unter den Todten hab' ich mein Bette “among the dead I have my bed”

====Olshausen 1853====
wieder Andre durch „frei“, näml. von der wohlthätigen Herrschaft Gottes, welcher sich der Redende ungern entzogen sieht; woran wohl am wenigsten gedacht werden darf.

====Baethgen 1904====
Unter den Toten 'muss ich wohnen’… 
חָפְשִׂי fassen alle alten Übersetzer in der gewöhnlichen Bedeutung des Worts »freigelassen«; Dies wird meistens erklärt »frei von der wohltätigen Herrschaft Gottes«, was der Sänger im Gegensatz zu Job 3:9 als ein Unglück empfinde. Eine höchst unnatürliche und gezwungene Erklärung. Hitzig u. a. denken (nach Ez 27:20) an ein Substant. חֹפֶשׁ: »unter Toten ist mein Lager«, was nicht nachweisbar ist. Wellh. will lesen נֶחְשַׁבְתִּי; jedoch erwartet man dann wie v. 5 עִם-הַמֵּתִים, und ausserdem wäre v. 6a neben 5a eine Tautologie. Der Dichter scheint in v. 6. 7. 9c die Stelle Thr 3.6-7 nachgebildet zu haben. Nach Thr 3 6 הוֹשִׁיבַנִי כְּמֵתֵי עוֹלָם

====Kiel 1990:795 <ref>Kiel Yehuda, דעת מקרא, ספר דברי הימים ב', Jerusalem, 1990</ref>====
בבית החפשית, והוא כנוי לבית מחוץ לתחומי העיר, שהמצורע יושב בו, כשהוא מבדד מחברת אנשים טהורים, והוא נוהג דיני אבלות... ובהתקרב אדם לביתו זה חיב המצרע לקרא 'טמא, טמא', והלשון 'חפשות' לפי הכתיב הוא שם מפשט והוראתו הבדלה, בדידות ושלוח מחוץ למחנה.
"In בית החפשית, which is the name for the house which was located outside the city limits, in which the leper dwelled, while being isolated from the company of pure people and practicing mourning customs... And when someone approaches this dwelling place, the leper must warn by shouting "unclean, unclean!". The word 'חפשות' according to the ''qetib'' is an abstract noun with the meaning of isolation, loneliness and casting out from the whole community". 

====Hossfeld and Zenger 2005:390e====
This expression, which was already interpreted by Thomas Willi in terms of the condition following the release of an adult subject from an obligation, has a substantive parallel in the Ugaritic expression bt ḫpṭt, ‘house of the ḫupšu-status’ or ‘house of the rank of the ḫupšu-mercenaries’, which has a clear connotation of the underworld. This emerges from the Baal epic according to which Baal sends a messenger to Mot in the underworld with the following words: ‘And go down to the house of the rank of the ḫupšu-mercenaries in the underworld, be counted among those who descend into the underworld’. The ‘house of the ḫupšu-status’ would describe an establishment in low regard that served in Ugarit as a reference to the underworld. We seem to have a similar transfer or meaning in Ps. 88: as a ‘freedperson’ could be released into a thoroughly despised social condition, so according to Ps. 88:6 the petitioner also exists among the dead as a ‘freedperson’, that is as someone who can offer YHWH no further service and therefore is no longer subject to the divine control. The complainant in Ps. 88:6 ‘reproaches his God that he has already reached the condition that is the lowest and worst even in the underworld’.  

====Hossfeld and Zenger 2005:395====
... in the hierarchy of the world of the dead he is in the lowest category, the "expelled"... and the "slain (with the sword: in war or by execution)" who are thrown into mass graves.

====Goldingay 2007====
Yet again the psalm restates the point. The suppliant is among the dead, but now, to make it worse, these dead are like people who have been killed in battle or people who have been executed. Initially the corpses of the former lay scattered over the battlefield, unburied, though if they were lucky they might then be buried in some mass grave. To be in such company suggests being an outcast (ḥopšî). In the OT the word usually means a bond servant freed after his years of service (e.g., Deut. 15:12–13), which suggests that the word describes the suppliant as freed from the servitude of mortal life. And one can imagine Job reckoning himself a free man when he is allowed to die. But this suppliant is not one who relishes his freedom; he is like a man “let go” by his employers when he wants to carry on working. Job would likewise relish being allowed to “lie” in the grave in peace (cf. Job 3:11–19), but this suppliant was not looking for his eternal rest quite yet. So “a free man” is an unlikely expression here. But cognate words to ḥopšî often carry the connotation of someone without social standing, which might also link with the use of ḥopšît/ḥopšût to mean something like confinement in 2 Kings 15:5; 2 Chron. 26:21
-->

==Secondary Literature==
:Baethgen, Friedrich. ''Die Psalmen''. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1904.
:Dahood, Mitchell J. ''Psalms II, 51-100: Introduction, Translation, and Notes''. 3rd ed. AB 17. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974.
:Gesenius, Wilhelm, 1786-1842. ''Hebrew and Chaldee lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures'', translated, with additions, and corrections from the author's Thesaurus and other works by Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux. London: Samuel Bagster & Sons, 1813-1875.
:Goldingay, John. ''Psalms: Psalms 42–89''. Vol. 2. BCOT. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007. 
:Hossfeld, Frank-Lothar, and Erich Zenger. ''Psalms 2: A Commentary on Psalms 51-100''. Translated by Linda M. Maloney. Hermeneia. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2005.
:Kiel, Yehuda. דעת מקרא .''ספר דברי הימים ב''.  Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1990.
:Olshausen, Justus. ''Die Psalmen''. Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1853.
:Stec, David M. ''The Targum of Psalms''. The Aramaic Bible, vol. 16. Collegeville, Minnesota: Michael Glazier Books, 2004.
:Tate, Marvin E. ''Psalms 51-100''. WBC 20. Dallas, Tex: Word Books, 1990.
:Tromp, Nicholas J. ''Primitive conceptions of death and the nether world in the Old Testament''. Biblica et Orientalia - N. 21. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1969.





=References=
[[Category:Argument maps]]  [[Status::Approved]]
[[Chapter::88]]:[[Verse::6]]