Instead of being unfaithful to God, the people had been faithful, and for this very reason they had been killed, they had been treated as though they were sheep for the slaughter (see verse 11a). This made it even harder to understand that God should have punished his people as he did.

For thy sake does not mean here, as the English phrase usually does, that it was “for the benefit” of God that the Israelites had been slaughtered; it was because of their devotion to him (Good News Translation “on your account”) that they had been defeated and killed. The expression for thy sake may be variously translated; for example, “because of you,” “because we follow you,” or “because we belong to you.”

In some languages it will be necessary to shift from the passive to the active in the expression we are slain. In this case it will be necessary to introduce a new subject; for example, “our enemies are killing us.” The phrase all the day long means “all the time,” continually. Bible en français courant translates “every day we run the risk of dying.”

Since sheep figure so dominantly in both the Old and New Testaments, it is assumed that the translator will not need to substitute another animal in the place of sheep. If supplementary information is required for the reader, this may be given in a glossary.

This verse is quoted by Paul in Romans 8.36.

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 .