The same rhetorical device is used in the beginning of this psalm as in Psalm 124; someone, probably a priest leading the liturgy, calls out the first line and commands the people to repeat it (verse 1), which they do (verse 2a) and then continue in the description of past sufferings. Israel is addressed as a person and is asked to recite the story of how he has been cruelly persecuted from my youth, that is, from the very beginning of Israel’s history as a nation, when the people came out of Egypt (see Hos 11.1). In languages in which it will not be possible to ask “Israel” as a nation to speak, it will often be necessary to say “You people of Israel” or “You who belong to the nation of Israel.” The expression from my youth should not refer to the lives only of the people responding, but to the entire history of the nation. Accordingly one may have to say “ever since Israel began as a nation” or “since the very beginning of Israel.” Sorely have they afflicted me means “My enemies made me suffer cruelly.” The chant and response structure of verses 1a and 2a is helped by such headings as in Bible en français courant “The Chant of Pilgrims.” Good News Translation has made this type of structure clear through “Israel, tell us,” and by putting the response in quotes. If translators can follow this model, some problems will be avoided. Good News Translation‘s “tell us” requires the use of the exclusive form in languages which must make a choice. This is because the liturgical leader does not include the group of pilgrims in the pronoun “us.”

In verse 2b they state that, even though the enemies were powerful, they were not able to destroy Israel; it still survived as a nation. Have not prevailed or Good News Translation‘s “have not overcome me” may be rendered “they have not destroyed me.”

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 .