The psalmist compares himself to a vulture (verse 6a), an owl (verse 6b), a lonely bird (verse 7b). As the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, there is uncertainty over the identification of the bird in verse 6a; the Septuagint has “pelican”; New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and New American Bible “desert owl”; New Jerusalem Bible “great-owl.” The bird in verse 6b is an owl; in verse 7b bird translates the word which in 84.3a is translated “sparrow.” For translation suggestions for wilderness (Good News Translation “desert”) see comments on 29.8. The Hebrew for waste places (Good News Translation “abandoned ruins”) most likely refers to abandoned cities or buildings that have been destroyed, where an owl may live, but there are no people. Waste places and “desert” must sometimes be rendered “places where people do not live.”

In verse 7b the Masoretic text is “and I am”; some emend this to “I wail” (New English Bible), or “I moan” (New American Bible), or “I groan” (Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible), joining it to the preceding I lie awake. This does make for a better balanced line, but the Masoretic text as it is can be translated. A lonely bird on the housetop may be understood by readers in some cultures to refer to witchcraft. Where this idea is common, it may be necessary to add a note to explain that the psalmist is speaking of his lonely condition, in which he has no one to comfort him.

In verse 8 the psalmist complains of his enemies, who scoff at him (see similar language in 89.51). In some languages All the day or “All day long” may be taken as excluding the nighttime. In such cases it may be better to say “All the time” or “Day and night.” In line b, instead of the Masoretic text those who deride me, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate have “those who (used to) praise me,” which is followed by Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible; but the Masoretic text better parallels the preceding line. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the Masoretic text, which it translates “those who become mad against me.”

Use my name for a curse means that the psalmist’s enemies call down upon others the same misfortunes and disasters that have befallen him; for an example of this see Jeremiah 29.22. Some, however, take it to mean that they curse the psalmist himself. For a curse and “in cursing” are both ambiguous. Therefore it will be necessary in some languages to adjust this statement by saying, for example, “curse others by using my name” or “when they curse other people, they do it by pronouncing my name.”

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 .