The psalmist uses various synonymous terms to describe how neighboring peoples (our neighbors) deride and taunt the Israelites for their shameful defeat: taunt, derision, scorn (verse 13). In verse 13a the Hebrew is literally “You made us the scorn of our neighbors” (see Revised Standard Version), which means that the attitude of Israel’s pagan neighbors is the result of what God has done to Israel (verses 9-12)–which Good News Translation has represented by “Our neighbors see what you did to us, and they mock us….”

Our neighbors should not be translated in a way as to refer to the people who live next door, nor as mankind in general, but to the people of the other tribes, namely, the Gentiles. Hence one can often say “the other tribes that live around us.”

Verse 13 in Hebrew is a case of gender-matched parallelism, in that line a has taunt (feminine) and neighbors (masculine), while line b has derision and scorn (masculine) and “neighborhood” (feminine). Cross gender is used in this manner to make the statement emphatic. Translators should use the poetic devices that are normal for emphasis in the receptor language.

A byword (verse 14a) translates the Hebrew word for “proverb, saying”; in this context it means that Israel is used as a joke, a term of contempt and mockery (see 1 Kgs 9.7; Jer 24.9). Thou hast made us a byword can in some languages be translated as “you have made of us two small words” or “you have made us a story to laugh at.”

In verse 14b, as the Revised Standard Version footnote shows, the Israelites have become “a shaking of the head” to their Gentile neighbors. This is a gesture of scorn. All these words are indicative of the attitude of Israel’s Gentile neighbors.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .