The psalmist confesses his sins to God (verse 18a), acknowledging that they fill him with anxiety (verse 18b), as Good News Translation translates it (also Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). Revised Standard Version translates I am sorry for my sin as a close parallel to line a. But the Hebrew verb has the meaning “be anxious about,” even “be afraid of” (see Jer 42.16); so New Jerusalem Bible here has “I am fearful over my sin”; New International Version “I am troubled by my sin”; New English Bible “I am anxious at the thought of my sin.” The expression “fill me with anxiety” can sometimes be translated idiomatically; for example, “they hang my heart up” or “they make my heart tremble,” or nonfiguratively “they cause me to be afraid.”

In verse 19a Good News Translation “healthy” translates the Masoretic text “living,” which is the sense expressed by Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “full of life” and New International Version “vigorous.” New Jerusalem Bible and Dahood translate it “mortal.”18-19 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says only that the Masoretic text means “living” (“A” decision) but does not explain what it means in the context. It cites factor 14, “Conjectural form of the text,” which states that the committee does not propose any conjectural emendation (regardless of whether or not the Masoretic text makes sense to the translator). Others conjecture the Hebrew term for “without reason” (as in 35.19), which makes the line a close parallel to the following one (Briggs, Weiser, Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, New American Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible). The Masoretic text is somewhat strange. In line b Revised Standard Version hate me wrongfully means “it is wrong for them to hate me”; so Good News Translation “for no reason.”

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 .