Line a goes with the preceding verse; my unformed substance translates a noun found only here in the Old Testament, “embryo” (Good News Translation “before I was born,” New International Version “my unformed body”). New American Bible follows the Syriac “my actions”; it is better to translate the Hebrew text, as understood by most.

The rest of the verse seems to change the subject from the formation and growth of the embryo to the days of the psalmist’s life. But King James Version, New Jerusalem Bible, and New English Bible take the subject of the rest of the verse to be still “my unformed limbs” (as New Jerusalem Bible translates in line a). This is possible but does not seem probable (see Anderson). The thought of verse 16b-d seems to be that before the psalmist’s birth Yahweh had already fixed the number of days he would live; Yahweh had written them down in his book (for which see 69.28). In verse 16d there was none of them translates one form of the Hebrew text (ketiv), “and not one among them”; another form of the text (qere; also the Qumran manuscript) has “and for it (there was) one among them”–a reference to the day of the psalmist’s birth. New Jerusalem Bible translates the qere as follows: “every one that was fixed is there,” taking “one” in the generic sense of “all.” It seems best to stay with ketiv, as Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and others do. Good News Translation‘s “The days allotted to me” may have to be recast to say, for example, “The number of days you gave me to live had all been written down in your book” or, in languages which do not use the passive, “You wrote down in your book the number of days you gave me to live.” Because book may not be familiar in this context, it may be better to say “You decided before I was born how long I would live.”

The translation of verses 14-16 is full of difficulties, and very few commentators or translators are dogmatic about the exact meaning of the Masoretic text. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says: “The entire V. would be: ‘your eyes saw me an embryon / fetus; and in your book they are all inscribed, the days which were formed and nobody among / in them (or: … were formed before any among them existed)’.” And on the two forms of the Hebrew text, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project comments on how the ketiv may be understood: “… the days which were formed and nobody was among them”, or “… the days which were formed before any among them existed”.

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 .