Translators may omit the connector For at the beginning of this verse since the verse is starting a new thought.
Thou hast put the fear of thee in our hearts in order that we should call upon thy name: Ordinarily, the idea found so often in the Old Testament of fearing God is expressed in translation in terms of worship or prayer. This is harder to do here, since it creates the odd statement that God made us worship him in order that we should worship him. Here, as in Jer 32.40, which is somewhat similar in wording, Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have retained the idea of fear. It is not entirely out of place here, since the writer is attributing the people’s repentance to God’s fearsome punishments. This is indeed a legitimate component of the meaning, but on a dial with “scared” on one side and “reverent, in awe” on the other, the needle points more toward the “reverent” side here. The following model is wordy, but it comes close to the idea here: “You have put deep within us a great respect for your power, so that we would know where to turn for help.” Such a rendering would lead smoothly into the next statement.
In our exile: Good News Translation “Here in exile” gently reminds the reader of the situation, and neatly recalls the effective use of “There in the land of your exile” in Bar 2.32. For exile see Bar 2.30.
We have put away from our hearts … means “we have repented….” Good News Translation “we have turned away from the sins of our ancestors” is straightforward and precise. We may also render it as “we have stopped doing all the evil things that our ancestors did.”
An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• You have put deep within us a great respect for your power, so that we would turn to you to help us. Here in the land of our exile we will praise you [or, tell you how great you are]. For we have stopped doing all the evil things that our ancestors did.
Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.