I earnestly beseech thee: Two verbs are used here in Greek, which is literally “I beseech, begging you.” Revised Standard Version restructures this line with one verb modified by an intensifying adverb. Good News Translation uses two main verbs as well as an adverb—it is not too much: “I beg you, Lord, I earnestly pray.” (“Lord” is brought up from the next line.) Revised English Bible has “I beg and beseech you.”
Forgive me, O Lord, forgive me!: This is the echo of “I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned” in verse 12. The ordinary Greek word for “forgive” is not used here. The word here encompasses in its meaning “let go, release, send forth, let alone, relax [of a bowstring].” It is used in the Greek Old Testament with the meaning “forgive” numerous times, but it is also used in these situations:
Exo 23.11, of letting the land rest and lie fallow
Jdg 8.3, of anger abating
1 Sam 11.3, of a few days respite from execution of a sentence
1 Chr 21.15, of staying one’s hand
It can be seen from this that there is a range of meanings here to choose from. There is nothing wrong with simply “please forgive me” (Contemporary English Version). But New English Bible “spare me” has something to commend it. Since the writer has spoken about being bowed down with heavy weights, the word may carry a some sense of “let go, lighten up, ease off, release the pressure.”
Do not destroy me with my transgressions: This means “When you obliterate the evil I have done, do not destroy me along with it.” Compare a similar usage in Gen 19.15. It does not mean “Do not let me die unforgiven, in a state of sin,” as New English Bible would seem to indicate with “destroy me not with my transgressions on my head.” Good News Translation shifts the focus to say “Do not destroy me because of my sins,” but it is certainly in no conflict with the writer’s meaning. We may also reorder the line as follows: “Even though I have sinned, please don’t destroy me.”
Do not be angry with me for ever or lay up evil for me is literally “neither having become angry forever, keep evil things for/to me.” Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and Contemporary English Version appear to interpret this line in such a way that “evil things” refers to punishments God might bring on the sinner with whom he is angry (compare Psa 103.9). In some languages the expression lay up evil or “store up punishment” (Good News Translation) will be unnatural. In such cases we may say “keep on punishing me.”
Do not condemn me to the depths of the earth: The depths of the earth is literally “the lowest parts of the earth.” The reference is to Sheol, the realm of the dead, which Good News Translation consistently renders “the world of the dead” (see Psa 63.9). Ryle suggests in his commentary that this line means “Do not condemn me when I am in the lowest parts of the earth.” The Greek can certainly be understood that way, but Good News Translation‘s interpretation would be judged more likely by most scholars. Another way to express this is “Do not send me down to where dead people stay.”
For thou, O Lord, art the God of those who repent: This line echoes the first line of verse 8, where God was referred to as “God of the righteous.” It also recalls verse 1, where he is the God of the patriarchs’ “righteous posterity.” Good News Translation could have reflected the parallel with verse 8 by translating here “for you, Lord, are the God of those who repent,” or we may say “Because you, Lord, accept those who turn back to you.”
An alternative translation model for this verse is:
Forgive me, O Lord, I beg you;
please forgive me.
I have sinned;
please don’t destroy me!
Do not stay angry with me forever,
and please don’t keep on punishing me.
Do not send me down
to where dead people stay.
Because you, Lord, accept those who repent [or, turn back to you].
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