Translation commentary on Psalm 10:17 - 10:18

In these last two verses the psalmist expresses his confidence that God will answer the prayer of those who cry to him for justice against their enemies; they are the meek, the fatherless (see verse 14), and the oppressed (see 9.9). The meek may sometimes be rendered “those who have a low place” or “people whom others look down on” (see comments on “afflicted” in 9.12).

Thou wilt hear means more than just hear the prayers of the people; it means to pay attention to and to answer.

Desire (same Hebrew word as in verse 3) means here the requests or prayers of the oppressed.

Strengthen translates the verb meaning to make strong or firm (see comments on “establish” in 7.9), here in the sense of giving confidence, courage. “Give them courage” is rendered idiomatically in some languages as “to make their hearts strong” or “to make firm their insides.”

At the end of verse 17, “your ear will pay attention” can be taken as a complete statement, “You will listen,” or it may go with the next verse, as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have done. Good News Translation starts verse 18 with this verbal phrase and supplies the implicit object, “the cries of the oppressed and the orphans.” It is important that “You will hear” not be rendered in such a way as to imply hearing without concern. It will often be necessary to say “you will listen to the pleas of the poor and the orphans and help them.”

Do justice to (“judge in their favor” Good News Translation) translates the same verb as the second one for “judge” used in 7.8. It expresses the confidence that God is on the side of the oppressed and will give them their rights.

The phrase man who is of the earth is a way of speaking of human beings as frail mortal creatures (see similar thought in 9.19-20; see also comments on “man” in 8.4). Moffatt has “mortal man”; New Jerusalem Bible “earthborn humans”; another possibility is “mere earthborn man.”

Strike terror is the way most translations represent the Hebrew verb; New English Bible, however, translates the last line of the verse “that fear may never drive men from their homes again”; this is not very probable. Bible en français courant is better: “so that no one on earth may ever again be a tyrant.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Psalm 16:5

Using metaphors which were familiar to his readers, the psalmist in verses 5-6 shows how good Yahweh has been to him. (1) Yahweh, he says, is my chosen portion (literally “the portion of my share”; see discussion in 11.6 on “the portion of their cup”). This is language which reflects the division of the land of Canaan among the various tribes, each tribe being allotted its share of the land, except the tribe of Levi; the LORD himself was its share (Deut 10.8-9). Here, in a striking reversal of the figure, the psalmist says that Yahweh has been allotted to him. This may be difficult to express in translation. Good News Translation has made the rendering of verse 5 more personal by employing direct address. This model can be followed in many languages. Because of the historical reference in the term portion, referring to the division of the land, it may be necessary to say, for example, “LORD, you are what I inherit.” It may be necessary to explain “inherit” in this context in a footnote.

(2) Yahweh is my cup, which stands for the destiny that God assigns him (see 11.6). Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates somewhat differently, “you fill me with blessings.” Cup, meaning destiny, may require shifting to nonfigurative speech and will often require the use of a clause, as in Good News Translation; for example, “you decide how I will live” or, figuratively, “you make the path where I will go.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch abandons figurative language altogether and translates the line “Lord, you provide me with what I need.”

(3) Yahweh “maintains my lot” (Revised Standard Version holdest my lot). This again reflects the custom of reaching decisions about God’s will, including the division of the land among the tribes, by casting lots (see Num 26.55-56). What the psalmist has comes from Yahweh, who protects and guides him. So the figure means that Yahweh guarantees his future, his destiny. New Jerusalem Bible translates “You control my fate”; Bible en français courant and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “you hold my destiny in your hands”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “my life is in your hands.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Psalm 18:15

In verse 15 the psalmist uses some degree of heightening in line b with foundations of the world. However, the degree is slight in the first pair. By contrast, in the second pair the movement from thy rebuke to the blast of the breath of thy nostrils is a vivid rhetorical leap, which Good News Translation attempts with “roared at them in anger.”

The language used in this verse recalls the parting of the waters of the Red Sea (that is, the Sea of Reeds; see comments at 106.7) when the Israelites fled from Egypt (see Exo 15.8; Psa 106.9). The ocean bed is spoken of in terms of the streams under the ocean (channels of the sea), which were believed to supply the ocean with water. The furious rage of Yahweh is pictured as the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. But this can be an explicit reference to the strong wind which parted the waters of the sea, and some translations interpret it this way (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “the strong breath that he blew”).

In languages which cannot use the passive voice, channels of the sea were seen and foundations … were laid bare, it may be necessary to say, for example, “He made the waters of the sea dry up” and “He made the bottom of the earth bare.” Foundations of the world may be expressed as “the ground on which the earth stands,” or in some languages “the legs of the earth.” See also “founded it” (the world) in 24.2.

Good News Translation has made the rebuke and the raging breath to be directed against the enemies; but they can be understood as directed at the ocean bed and the earth’s foundations. Toombs sees in verse 15 the picture of Yahweh cleaving his way through the sea and the foundations of the earth down into Sheol, from where he draws forth the psalmist (verse 16).

Line c at thy rebuke … stands as a temporal clause and chronologically precedes the actions in lines a and b. For this reason it may be more meaningful in some languages to place the final two lines at the beginning. As in 9.5 the English word rebuke is too mild for the action described. Something like “roaring” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “mighty roaring” (New Jerusalem Bible) is better.

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 .

Translation commentary on Psalm 20:1

This psalm has an envelope structure in the sense that it is enclosed between The LORD answer you in verse 1 and answer us when we call in the final verse. Verses 1 through 5 contain a series of requests addressed to God in the third person. In some languages these must be in the form of commands.

A literal translation of answer you in the day of trouble may mean that the LORD is merely being asked to reply to a question from the troubled king. In order to avoid such a misunderstanding, it will be necessary in some languages to say, for example, “May the LORD help you” or “May the LORD rescue you.”

The pronoun you in the singular form may be misleading and cause readers to imagine that it is the reader who is referred to. Since the reference is to the king (see verse 9), it will be necessary in some languages to substitute “king” for you, and if king must be possessed, then “our king” will be most appropriate. In some languages the appropriate honorific form of the pronoun you plus “our king” may be combined; for example, “May the LORD help you, our king, when you are in trouble.”

According to the usual interpretation, the day of trouble refers to battle (this can be “in time of danger”); Dahood takes the word here to have the specific meaning of “siege.” (But Weiser doubts that the psalm has to do with military conflict, and understands it to refer to the festival in which Yahweh was proclaimed King of Israel.)

For comments on name see 5.11. The title the God of Jacob occurs some 11 times in Psalms and recalls Yahweh as the God of the ancestor of the Israelites, the founder of the nation. The God of Jacob must sometimes be rendered “the God of our ancestor Jacob” or “the God whom our ancestor Jacob worshiped.” Care must be taken in translation not to imply that the God of Jacob in line b is another God, different from The LORD in line a. Following Good News Translation terminology, the translation can be “May he, who is the God of Jacob, protect you!”

Protect is a translation of the causative form of a verb meaning “to be high”; therefore “put you out of reach (of your enemies)” is the idea. Briggs, however, takes it to mean victory.

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 .

Translation commentary on Psalm 22:29

This verse presents difficulties in text and exegesis, and translations vary considerably. The Hebrew text has three lines; the first one is “they have eaten and they will bow down, all the fat ones of the earth.” The solution proposed by Briggs and others (followed by Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, Good News Translation, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) is that in place of the Masoretic text “they have eaten” the text should be “indeed to him,” and the “and” before the next word should be removed. But Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project all follow the Masoretic text.

The phrase in the Masoretic text, “All those in full vigor shall eat and prostrate themselves” (New Jerusalem Bible), is understood differently by Dahood and others (New American Bible, New English Bible, Toombs, Weiser). Others change the Masoretic text “fat ones” to “those who sleep,” meaning the dead in Sheol; so Bible en français courant “even those who sleep in the underworld.” This certainly offers a more fitting parallel to line b, which has “before his face will bow all who go down to the dust”–that is, all mortal beings–or perhaps, “all who are about to die” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

The translator may wish to follow the Masoretic text, in which “shall eat” does not make much sense in the context. New International Version probably comes as close to making sense as any: “All the rich of the earth will feast and worship,” this line contrasting with the following “all who go down to the dust.” Or else the translator may choose to follow the emended text represented by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. All the proud of the earth, depending on which wording the translator follows, may be rendered in some languages by idiomatic expressions; for example, “those who walk with their noses high,” “those who have big thoughts of themselves,” “those who speak great words of themselves.”

All who go down to the dust will have no reference to death in many languages. “Mortal men” may be rendered “people who die.” The translator must make certain that they are not said to die as the result of bowing down to the LORD.

Line c (which Weiser omits as a later doctrinal addition) is literally “and his nefesh he cannot keep alive” (so Revised Standard Version; Good News Translation has combined it with “mortal men” in line b as another way of speaking of who go down to the dust; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “for they have no life in themselves”). But others translate this differently: New English Bible (and similarly New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible) “But I shall live for his sake” (in which the Masoretic text loʾ “not” is changed, with ancient versions, to lo “for him”). Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “he (Yahweh) has not let them live.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Psalm 26:6 - 26:7

In a ritual in the Temple, after claiming his innocence, the psalmist confirms his claim by ritually washing his hands (see Deut 21.6-9; Matt 27.24) and marching around the altar (see 42.4; 118.27).

The word translated innocence is literally “empty, bare”–that is, there is no wrongdoing in him. In innocence will require saying in some languages “I have done no wrong.”

To bring out the ritual aspect of the march, New Jerusalem Bible translates “join the procession around your altar”; Good News Translation tries to do the same with “march in worship around the altar.” The idea of marching around the altar may require a footnote in order to make its meaning clear. Thy altar must often be rendered “the place where people worship you.”

Singing translates the infinitive of the causal form of the verb “to hear,” meaning “cause to be heard.”

Song of thanksgiving must often be translated “a song in which people give thanks to God.”

For telling and wondrous deeds see comments at 9.1. Wondrous deeds may sometimes be translated “the great things you have done.”

Verse 7b gives the content of the thanksgiving song of verse 7a, and so the translation can be “I sing a hymn of thanks to you, in which I tell of all the wonderful things you have done.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Psalm 31:3 - 31:4

In verse 3 the word for fortress is the same as in verse 2; rock is here a different one from the one in verse 2, but it has the same meaning (it is also used in 18.2).

For thy name’s sake: see discussion at 23.3.

The two verbs lead me and guide me are used in 23.2, 3; here the two forms in Hebrew make for a pleasant alliteration: taneheni and tanahaleni.

For the phrase in verse 4 “to hide a net,” see the comments at 9.15. The expression take me out of the net gives the impression that the psalmist is already caught. However, see Good News Translation. The intention is that the writer asks to be spared from being caught in the trap. In some languages this can best be expressed, for example, “Don’t let me pass where my enemies have laid their traps” or “Guide me away from the hidden traps of my enemies.”

Refuge is the same word used in verse 2 “(a rock) of refuge.” The translator should follow Revised Standard Version in the last line, translating it as a statement, and not as a petition as in Good News Translation.

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 .

Translation commentary on Psalm 33:22

The psalm closes with the congregation praying for God’s continued love, based on their continued hope in him. Their awareness of God’s steadfast love for them results from the blessings they receive from him; in a sense, they are praying that God show them his love by helping them, blessing them, causing them to prosper.

The second line may be understood to mean “just as we hope you will do” (see Biblia Dios Habla Hoy), or it may indicate the ground or basis for God’s activity, that is, that he bless them to the extent that they place their hope in him.

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 .