In verse 18a the psalmist compares his enemy’s cursing to wearing clothes; Good News Translation takes this to mean “He cursed as naturally as he dressed himself”; but the language may be a figure for the constancy, not the ease, with which he uttered curses on others. So a translation can be “He cursed others all the time” or “He never stopped cursing others.” New Jerusalem Bible translates “Cursing has been the uniform he wore.” But New Jerusalem Bible and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translate this as a plea: “May he be clothed in a curse like a garment,” which means that the curses against him are to cling to him like the clothes he wears (as in verse 19, but this interpretation is not preferred). In verse 18b-c, by the use of a rather unusual figure, the psalmist hopes that those curses the enemy pronounced on others might soak into his body like water and like oil. Of course water can enter the body (literally “the inside”; see “within me” in 103.1) when someone drinks it, but olive oil is spread over the body and was thought to seep into the bones. So Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “… like water that one drinks, like oil which one rubs on oneself.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates “may it (the malediction) enter his stomach and his bones as though it were water and olive oil.” Some see in this figure a reference to the ritual described in Numbers 5.11-31, in which a married woman suspected of adultery had to drink a liquid which contained a curse (see especially verses 23 and 27). There is perhaps a degree of intensification involved in the movement through the lines in this verse. This is contained mainly in the process of moving from the outside of the body (the garment) to the inside of the body, and finally into the bones. A suggested rendering can be:

• He cursed as regularly as he put on his clothes.
May his curses even enter his body like the water he drinks,
And may they go on to reach like oil down to his bones.

The same wish is expressed in another fashion in verse 19, that these curses always cover the enemy like a garment and like a belt, that is, that they hang on to him and never let go of him.

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 .