In verses 16-18 the psalmist pictures himself as practically dead, as his enemies close in and tear at him like a band of wild dogs. Afterward, as though he were already dead, they proceed to gamble for his clothes.

In this verse the psalmist calls his enemies dogs; Good News Translation has turned the metaphor into a simile, “like a pack of dogs,” placing “A gang of evil men” in line a (for Revised Standard Version a company of evildoers in line b).

In line c the Masoretic text begins “like a lion”; the Septuagint took the Hebrew to be a form of the verb “to dig” (as in 7.15); Aquila, Symmachus, and Jerome took the Hebrew to be a form of the verb “to tie” (and two Hebrew manuscripts have “they tie”); there are other explanations as well. See Bible de Jérusalem, K-B Lexicon under ʾarah II, Dahood, Weiser. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says that the Masoretic text appears to be a plural participle, “(they are) mangling” (“B” decision). No one solution can be dogmatically proposed as the correct one; the majority of translations use a word appropriate to the action of “a pack of dogs.” Bible en français courant and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, however, have “they tie.” New Jerusalem Bible attempts to stay with the Masoretic text by translating “like lions [they maul] my hands and feet.”

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 .