Behold, we are today in our exile where thou has scattered us: The word Behold puts focus on what follows. Sometimes this word is too effective to be eliminated, as Good News Translation and New English Bible have done. The writer is ending the prayer here by calling on God to consider his people’s situation. An alternative rendering for the first part of this verse is “Look at us. Here we are in exile where you scattered us.”

For scattered see the comments on Bar 2.4-5.

To be reproached may be rendered “You have made them [the nations] despise [or, insult] us.” See the comments on “reproach” at Bar 2.4-5.

Cursed means “say bad [or, evil] things about us.”

All the iniquities of our fathers may also be expressed as “all the sins of our ancestors.”

Who forsook the Lord our God may be translated “who rebelled against you, the Lord our God.”

From a literary point of view, this verse seems a clumsy way to end the prayer, even though the author apparently wanted it this way. In fact, much of this summary section, 3.1-8, appears jerky. A suggested reordering of clauses in verses 4-8 is made here, in full knowledge that translators must be cautious; the suggestion is that verses 4-8 would read much more smoothly if those verses are arranged in the order 4, 8, 5, 7, 6 as follows:

• Lord Almighty, God of Israel, please listen to our prayer! We are the few who are left out of Israel! We are the children of those who sinned against you, the Lord our God, and we are suffering the consequences of that sin. Look at us! Here we are living in an enemy country where you scattered us. Our enemies despise us and say evil things about us. We are suffering for all the sins of our ancestors, who rebelled against you, the Lord our God. Don’t think about our ancestors’ sins anymore. This is a time to concentrate on your own power and reputation. You put deep within us a great respect for your power, so that we would know where to turn for help. So here living in this foreign land we praise you, because we have stopped doing all the evil things that our ancestors did. Yes, Lord, we will praise you. You are the Lord, our God.

Translators should note that the Handbook is not urging this reordering; we are simply pointing out possibilities.

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.