This speaks of God making people aware of things as if he were opening their ears so that they could hear. AT: "then God reveals things to people" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
This speaks of God keeping someone from doing something as if he were physically pulling him away from harm. AT: "in order to keep him from" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
# God keeps man's life back from the pit ... his life from crossing over to death
Both of these statements mean the same thing. AT: "God saves people from the grave and from death" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism]])
# the pit
The place where people go when they die is referred to here as "the pit." AT: "the place where dead people are" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
# man's life back ... his life
This is an idiom. AT: "man from dying and ... he keeps him" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-idiom]])
Here "death" represents the place where people go when they die, that is, sheol. AT: "from going to sheol" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])