If integrated into the book of Daniel: 3.41 – 42

It is hard to find a reason for Good News Translation combining verses 18 and 19 in its numbering. Clearly verse 19 begins with “Treat us….”

With all our heart: See the comments on the previous verse. As noted there, this expression may be rendered “completely” in some languages.

We follow thee, we fear thee and seek thy face: The Greek verbs here are present tense, as in Revised Standard Version, but the statement amounts to a pledge of allegiance, a statement of commitment. For this reason Good News Translation introduces these verbs with “we promise to…” and New English Bible expresses them in future tense. New Jerusalem Bible has found a forceful way of expressing this pledge of loyalty by beginning verse 18 as follows: “And now we put our whole heart into following you….” Good News Translation‘s equivalent to follow is “obey” (also Contemporary English Version), fear is “worship” (also Contemporary English Version), and seek thy face is “come to you in prayer,” but we may also translate the last expression as “come and pray to you” or even “continue praying to you.”

Do not put us to shame: As in verse 17, the meaning of shame here is “disappointment, disillusionment,” but if someone says to God “Do not disappoint us” or “Do not let us down,” this sounds in English as if the speaker has some claim on God that God is duty bound to carry out. Even a positive restructuring like “Vindicate our faith” sounds a bit like the speaker is challenging God rather than entreating him. So it will be necessary to begin with an entreaty here; for example, “We trust in you, so please don’t let us be disgraced.”

Deal with us in thy forbearance and in thy abundant mercy: Good News Translation places this positive entreaty (“Treat us with kindness and mercy”) before the negative one of the previous line (“let us never be put to shame”). Forbearance means “patience.” An idea missing in Good News Translation is abundant in the phrase in thy abundant mercy. The Greek is literally “according to the fullness of your mercy.”

An alternative translation model for verse 19 is:

• We trust you, so please don’t let us be disgraced. Rather, be patient with us and show us your great mercy.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.