complete verse (Psalm 139:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 139:11:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “When I say, ‘Truly, darkness will surely cover me
    and light should be darkness around me,’” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “Even if I say to the darkness "Hide me!"
    and even if I say to the light all around me, "Become night!"” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “For-instance/example, I will-request the darkness to cover me,
    or the light that surrounds me to-become night.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “If I would say, ‘The darkness will hide me,
    and the light will become night for me,’” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Iwapo nasema, ‘Giza inifiche,
    na nuru ambayo imenizunguka igeuke kuwa usiku,’” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “I could request the darkness to hide me, or I could request the light around me to become darkness,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Psalm 139:11 - 139:12

In these verses the psalmist uses the figures of darkness and light to show how impossible it is to hide from Yahweh. In verse 11a the Hebrew verb translated cover is found elsewhere in the sense of crush, bruise (Gen 3.15; Job 9.17); here this is taken to mean, in a general sense, to overwhelm or to hide. New Jerusalem Bible has “conceal,” and New English Bible “steal over me.” Some, however, propose to change the Hebrew to a form of the verb which means “to cover” (so New American Bible). Most translations find that the Hebrew text as it is yields a satisfactory sense. In verse 11b instead of the Masoretic text “and the light around me (become) darkness,” the Qumran manuscript has “the night (become) a belt around me,” which Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, and New English Bible follow. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says: “There are two possible ways of interpreting this part of the V., either: ‘(… even darkness covers me,) and the light is night around me’, or: ‘(… even in darkness he [i.e. God] watches me,) and during the night he is light about me…’.” The Good News Translation form “ask the darkness to hide me” presents difficulties in translation, in that an inanimate object is being asked to perform an action. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy provides a model that may be more easily followed: “If I thought of hiding in the darkness, or that the light that surrounds me be turned into darkness….”

Not even the possibility of changing light into darkness would be of any help to the psalmist, were he to attempt to flee from Yahweh, for with Yahweh there is no difference between darkness and light (verse 12). Biblia Dios Habla Hoy goes on to say in verse 12a “the darkness would not hide me from you,” which can also be rendered “but I could not hide from you in the darkness.”

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 .