Cherokee: “putting one’s hand up to someone” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 102:8:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“All day my enemies do mock me;
those who insult me, they use my name as a curse.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“My enemies tease me the whole day long.
Those who mock me,
when they have to curse, they use my name.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“I am- always -put-to-shame by my enemies.
They mock me and they use my bad situation as an example to curse others.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“My enemies insult me all day,
they mock me, and they mention my names when they curse.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Siku zote maadui zangu wananidharau,
wanatumia jina langu kuwadhihaki wengine.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“All during the day my enemies insult me;
those who make fun of me mention my name and say, ‘May you be like him’ when they curse people.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).
In Cherokee it is either translated as “the one(s) who reprimand(s) you” or “the one(s) feared.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 47)
The psalmist compares himself to a vulture (verse 6a), an owl (verse 6b), a lonely bird (verse 7b). As the Revised Standard Version footnote indicates, there is uncertainty over the identification of the bird in verse 6a; the Septuagint has “pelican”; New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and New American Bible “desert owl”; New Jerusalem Bible “great-owl.” The bird in verse 6b is an owl; in verse 7b bird translates the word which in 84.3a is translated “sparrow.” For translation suggestions for wilderness (Good News Translation “desert”) see comments on 29.8. The Hebrew for waste places (Good News Translation “abandoned ruins”) most likely refers to abandoned cities or buildings that have been destroyed, where an owl may live, but there are no people. Waste places and “desert” must sometimes be rendered “places where people do not live.”
In verse 7b the Masoretic text is “and I am”; some emend this to “I wail” (New English Bible), or “I moan” (New American Bible), or “I groan” (Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible), joining it to the preceding I lie awake. This does make for a better balanced line, but the Masoretic text as it is can be translated. A lonely bird on the housetop may be understood by readers in some cultures to refer to witchcraft. Where this idea is common, it may be necessary to add a note to explain that the psalmist is speaking of his lonely condition, in which he has no one to comfort him.
In verse 8 the psalmist complains of his enemies, who scoff at him (see similar language in 89.51). In some languages All the day or “All day long” may be taken as excluding the nighttime. In such cases it may be better to say “All the time” or “Day and night.” In line b, instead of the Masoretic text those who deride me, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate have “those who (used to) praise me,” which is followed by Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible; but the Masoretic text better parallels the preceding line. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the Masoretic text, which it translates “those who become mad against me.”
Use my name for a curse means that the psalmist’s enemies call down upon others the same misfortunes and disasters that have befallen him; for an example of this see Jeremiah 29.22. Some, however, take it to mean that they curse the psalmist himself. For a curse and “in cursing” are both ambiguous. Therefore it will be necessary in some languages to adjust this statement by saying, for example, “curse others by using my name” or “when they curse other people, they do it by pronouncing my name.”
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 .
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