Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 139:24:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“See if there is any evil movements in me,
and you should lead me in your everlasting path.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“Show [me] if I have anything that is not good.
and take me along the everlasting way.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“See if I have an evil/wicked character/behavior
and lead/guide me on a road/path/way that I should pass-through forever/[lit. until whenever].” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“You see if I follow any bad way,
and you take me in the way that remains forever.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Unitazame iwapo umo uchafu ndani mwangu,
uniongoze katika njia ya milele na milele.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“Find out whether there is anything evil in my inner being,
and lead me along the road that leads to my being with you forever.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The following is a lyrical rendition of Psalm 139 into English by Mary Herbert , Countess of Pembroke (née Sidney, 1561 – 1621), authored c. 1594 as part of the Sidney Psalms :
O Lord, in me there lieth nought
But to thy search revealèd lies,
For when I sit
Thou markest it;
No less thou notest when I rise;
Yea, closest closet of my thought
Hath open windows to thine eyes.
Thou walkest with me when I walk;
When to my bed for rest I go,
I find thee there,
And everywhere:
Not youngest thought in me doth grow,
No, not one word I cast to talk
But yet unuttered thou dost know.
If forth I march, thou goest before,
If back I turn, thou com’st behind:
So forth nor back
Thy guard I lack,
Nay on me too, thy hand I find.
Well I thy wisdom may adore,
But never reach with earthy mind.
To shun thy notice, leave thine eye,
O whither might I take my way?
To starry sphere?
Thy throne is there.
To dead men’s undelightsome stay?
There is thy walk, and there to lie
Unknown, in vain I should assay.
O Sun, whom light nor flight can match,
Suppose thy lightful flightful wings
Thou lend to me,
And I could flee
As far as thee the ev’ning brings:
Even led to West he would me catch,
Nor should I lurk with western things.
Do thou thy best, O secret night,
In sable veil to cover me:
Thy sable veil
Shall vainly fail;
With day unmask’d my night shall be,
For night is day, and darkness light,
O father of all lights, to thee.
Each inmost piece in me is thine:
While yet I in my mother dwelt,
All that me clad
From thee I had.
Thou in my frame hast strangely dealt:
Needs in my praise thy works must shine
So inly them my thoughts have felt.
Thou, how my back was beam-wise laid,
And raft’ring of my ribs, dost know;
Know’st every point
Of bone and joint,
How to this whole these parts did grow,
In brave embroid’ry fair array’d,
Though wrought in shop both dark and low.
Nay, fashionless, ere form I took,
Thy all-and-more beholding eye
My shapeless shape
Could not escape:
All these time-framed successively
Ere one had being, in the book
Of thy foresight enroll’d did lie.
My God, how I these studies prize,
That do thy hidden workings show!
Whose sum is such
No sum so much,
Nay, summ’d as sand they sumless grow.
I lie to sleep, from sleep I rise,
Yet still in thought with thee I go.
My God, if thou but one wouldst kill,
Then straight would leave my further chase
This cursèd brood
Inur’d to blood,
Whose graceless taunts at thy disgrace
Have aimed oft; and hating still
Would with proud lies thy truth outface.
Hate not I them, who thee do hate?
Thine, Lord, I will the censure be.
Detest I not
The cankered knot
Whom I against thee banded see?
O Lord, thou know’st in highest rate
I hate them all as foes to me.
Search me, my God, and prove my heart,
Examine me, and try my thought;
And mark in me
If ought there be
That hath with cause their anger wrought.
If not (as not) my life’s each part,
Lord, safely guide from danger brought.
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
Here, michibīte (導いて) or “lead/guide” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
The psalm concludes with a prayer for Yahweh to Search the psalmist and Try him (that is, put him to the test) in order to discover if there is any wicked way in him. This is more than a request; it is a way of claiming innocence of any wrong. The psalmist is confident that Yahweh will find nothing in him that deserves punishment.
The two lines of verse 23 are parallel and synonymous, but without intensification. This verse uses much of the language found in verse 1. My heart in line a is parallel with my thoughts in line b; the word translated thoughts is found elsewhere only in 94.19a. The repetition in verse 23 serves to emphasize how important the psalmist’s request is. If the two-line parallelism does not convey this emphasis, the translator should provide it through whatever poetic means is suitable.
In verse 24 it is not certain what the word translated wicked means. Depending on which root it may have come from, it may mean either “injurious, hurtful” or “idol.” If taken in the first sense, it is to be decided whether the “hurt” is felt by God (so New English Bible “that grieves thee”) or by the psalmist (so other translations). In support of the notion “idol” is the use of the word in Isaiah 48.5 in that sense, and the translation in the Targum; this is adopted by Bible en français courant and Dahood. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates the line “See if I am walking the path of evil.” It seems best to understand the word to mean a sin, or fault, that is harmful to the psalmist.
In verse 24b the word translated everlasting may mean “ancient” (so New English Bible), as in Jeremiah 6.16; 18.15. The latter possibility is found as an alternative in Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy footnotes. The everlasting way is God’s way, the one he has set out for all time as the way his people should go. Many languages will be able to maintain the parallel usage of wicked way and way everlasting, as do Revised Standard Version and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy; “Look at me and see if I am going on the road that wicked people take; guide me on the road that leads to you” (as Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has it).
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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