There is a play on words in the Hebrew text of verse 5; the same verb is used in both lines. In line a Revised Standard Version has If I forget, and wither in line b; it is contended by many that the verb has both meanings (see Anderson, Dahood; so Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible). It seems no longer necessary, as New Jerusalem Bible does, to change the Hebrew in line b to another verb. King James Version “forget her cunning” in line b is from the Great Bible of 1540. New International Version follows King James Version‘s lead by translating “If I forget … may my right hand forget its skill.” The Septuagint has the verb in the passive, “let my right hand be forgotten,” which requires only a change of vowels in the Hebrew text (so New American Bible). Good News Translation takes the language to mean “May I never be able to play the harp again.”

In verse 6 Good News Translation “May I never be able to sing again” (literally “May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth”) parallels verse 5b. Both verses 5 and 6 represent a curse the psalmist calls upon himself, a punishment he prays be sent upon him by God: total or partial paralysis, in which he would lose control of his hands and tongue.

The last clause in verse 6 is literally “if I do not place Jerusalem above the top of my joy” (Revised Standard Version if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy). The meaning is either to place Jerusalem’s happiness, prosperity, joy, above that of the psalmist, or else to consider Jerusalem the source of the psalmist’s greatest happiness. The latter seems more probable.

The structure of this kind of curse upon oneself must often be recast. This may require adjusting verses 5 and 6 so that the conditions for the curse are stated first, and introducing God as the operator of the curse; for example, “If I forget you, Jerusalem, if I do not think of you as my greatest joy, may God prevent me from playing the harp or singing again.” This kind of polite language will be stylistically inappropriate for a curse formula in many languages where one must follow the Hebrew formulation as seen in Revised Standard Version.

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 .