Psalm 88/Notes/Lexical.Vv. 3-4.954087
From Psalms: Layer by Layer
- v. 4: נפש as a substitute for personal pronoun
- "The נפשׁ as the essential of man stands for the man himself > paraphrase for pers. pron. especially in poetry and ornate discourse" (BDB), cf. Psa 11:1; 7:3. Most translations keep the literal phrase "my soul" (ESV), some understand it as a personal pronoun (CEV, NIV).