Good News Translation sets forth the dialogue pattern of these verses by separating verse 1 from verses 2-5, and by placing verses 2-5 within quotation marks as the people’s answer to the priest’s question. Revised Standard Version preserves the form of the Hebrew, where verse 2a repeats exactly verse 1a; between the two comes verse 1b with the direction let Israel now say. Of the translations consulted, only Good News Translation uses the question and answer form; all the others follow the Hebrew form. Verses 1 and 2 are an example of staircase parallelism in which the second line (verse 2a) repeats verse 1a and then adds something further, when men rose up against us. The Hebrew form is used here as an opener with the purpose of catching the reader’s attention. A translator must decide whether the form of the Hebrew will be easily understood by the readers. As the form stands (see Revised Standard Version), some adjustment may be required to make the meaning of the opening lines clear. See suggestions below.

Revised Standard Version If it had not been the LORD … (in verses 1a, 2a) is fairly high-level language; a simpler form is “If the LORD had not been on our side” (New English Bible, New International Version) or “Unless the LORD had been on our side….” The opening question (as found in Good News Translation) implies a background which is supplied in 2b. In some languages the question will remain obscure without the background. It is possible to supply that information in the opening question; for example, “When our enemies attacked us, what if the LORD had not been on our side?” Who was on our side translates what is literally in Hebrew “who was for us” and may have to be recast as “who helped us” or “who fought for us.” In verse 1b Israel may be represented by “the people of Israel.” It should be noted that now in Revised Standard Version is not meant to represent “at the present time”; it translates a Hebrew particle which is used for emphasis, indicating a note of urgency, “Say it, Israel!”

In verse 2b men translates the Hebrew ʾadam, “people” (see New Jerusalem Bible); New English Bible has simply “they.”

The destructive force of the enemy is depicted in terms of a ferocious monster (verse 3) and a devastating flood (verses 4-5). All three verses begin with a Hebrew word translated then, which is found only here in the Old Testament; this word sets off each verse as a description of what would have happened had it not been for Yahweh’s help. In the event that swallowed … alive does not carry the meaning of destroying, it will be necessary to use a different metaphor or to use a nonmetaphor; for example, “they would have killed us.”

For other passages where the language of verse 3a is used, see 35.25; Proverbs 1.12; Jeremiah 51.34.

The language of verses 4-5 recalls passages elsewhere in which the waters, the sea, the floods, are representative of the chaos and destruction which Yahweh defeated at creation (see 74.12-14; 89.9-10; 93.3-4). In verse 4a the flood is the same as the torrent in verse 4b and the raging waters in verse 5b. These vivid figures emphasize the hostility and the power of Israel’s enemies. In verses 4b, 5a over us translates the Hebrew “over our nefesh” (see 3.2); verse 5a picks up the words of verse 4b and repeats them for dramatic effect. In verse 5 raging translates a word found nowhere else in the Old Testament. Verses 4 and 5 make up a three-line parallelism. There is a degree of heightening suggested in the Hebrew terms for the flood, which are “waters,” “stream,” “raging waters.” However, the accompanying verbs do not support the movement. Verse 4a and 4b have essentially the same word order, while verse 5 reverses the order, creating thereby a chiasmus with the first two lines. The function of this poetic reversal is to bring the strophe to a sharp halt. Translators should consider what poetic device in the receptor language serves best in this context as a climax to the parallelism, and at the same time marks the end point of a strophe or stanza. In cases where the imagery of flood, water, and raging torrent do not adequately represent the enemies who destroy Israel, it may be necessary to employ a series of similes; for example, “Our enemies would have carried us away like a flood; they would have flowed over us like water, and they would have drowned us like a rapid river.”

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 .