Translators should attempt to make as clear as possible the relation between verse 2 and verse 1. In order to show this relation properly, it may be necessary in some languages to say “what is true is that I have great sorrow” or “it is true that my sorrow for my people is very great.”

The last phrase in this verse (for my people, my own flesh and blood!) actually appears in verse 3 of the Greek text. However, Paul’s sorrow is not for himself, but for his people, and so the Good News Translation brings this phrase up to verse 2 to make this fact clear.

The double exclamation of verse 2 may be changed into a strong affirmation—for example, “My sorrow is very great and the pain in my heart for my people never ends; I speak of the people of my own tribe.” It is quite impossible in most languages to employ a literal translation of my own flesh and blood, nor can one reproduce literally what the Greek has: “relatives according to the flesh.” A far more appropriate equivalent is usually some expression as “my own tribe,” “the people to whom I belong,” or “the people with whom I am one.”

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 .