And in me thou wilt manifest thy goodness: Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version translate this as an imperative, a request for salvation. It is rather an expression of faith—it must sound like confidence in God’s goodness rather than presumption on it. The petitioning, the begging for forgiveness has been done. Now is the time for assurance of pardon. This clause is part of the same sentence as the preceding line. The speaker has repented, and thus claimed the Lord as his God; he is now confident that as a penitent sinner he will experience God’s kindness again. In me is in an emphatic position; it has the sense of “even in [or, to] me.” An alternative model for the last line of the previous verse and this line is:

For you, Lord, are the God of those who repent,
and you will show your goodness even to me.

For, unworthy as I am, thou wilt save me in thy great mercy: This too is an expression of confidence rather than a petition. It may be rendered “You will show me your great mercy and save me, even though I do not deserve it.” The connector for may be omitted here since this line does not have a logical relationship with what precedes it.

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