Paul sees in the Old Testament a witness, not only to Christ’s sufferings, but to the suffering of his people, and he quotes from Psalm 44.22 as proof of this. We are in danger of death is literally “we are being put to death” (An American Translation*). In 1 Corinthians 15.31 Paul says “I die every day,” but what he obviously means is I face death every day. The Good News Translation assumes that Paul uses the verb “to be put to death” with a similar meaning in the present passage. The first clause in the quotation may be translated in some languages as “every day people threaten to kill us because of you.”

Sheep that are going to be slaughtered is actually a genitive expression “sheep of slaughter,” but there is no doubt regarding the meaning and the Good News Translation has made the relation clear. An active equivalent of this passive expression may be “people treat us just like sheep which they are going to slaughter” or “people treat us badly, as they treat the sheep which they are going to kill.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .