darkness

In Gbaya, the notion of deep darkness is emphasized in the referenced verses with kpɔ̧ɔ̧-kpɔ̧ɔ̧, an ideophone that refers to something very black, dark black like the darkness of night the movement or motion of shaking.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

See also darkness and darkness.

complete verse (Psalm 143:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 143:3:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “An enemy is chasing me,
    he has trampled me down;
    he has caused me to be in darkness
    like a person who died already.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “The enemy has chased me relentlessly,
    he has trampled me to the ground,
    like those who have died much earlier,
    he has kept me in a dark place.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “My enemies really pursue/persecute me.
    They defeated me and put/placed (me) in a dark prison;
    I (am) like a man/person who died a-long-time ago.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “My enemy chases me,
    he crushes me down,
    he makes me to live in darkness,
    like people who died long ago.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Maadui zangu wananifuata,
    wamenipondaponda kabisa chini,
    wamenikalisha katika giza kama mtu ambaye alikuwa amekufa zamani.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “My enemies have pursued me; they have completely defeated me.
    It is as though they have put me in a dark prison, where I have nothing good to hope for/expect, like those who died long ago.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common 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 ).

Translation commentary on Psalm 143:3 - 143:4

The psalmist describes his plight. The first two lines of verse 3 are parallel: has pursued me (literally “pursued my nefesh”) and has crushed my life. In verse 3b crushed … to the ground is a figure of complete defeat (see similar language in 7.5). It is possible, as Anderson and others think, that the enemy is a collective term for the psalmist’s enemies (see the plural in verse 9).

The last half of verse 3 is the same as Lamentations 3.6. The darkness (literally “dark places”; see 88.6, 18) may be understood literally to mean a gloomy dungeon, or else figuratively, meaning disaster, calamity. It is probable that the word deliberately alludes to the dark underworld, Sheol, and that the psalmist is saying that he is as good as dead (see use of similar language in 88.4-6). The expression like those long dead is an emphatic way of stressing the psalmist’s hopelessness; there is no life, no vitality, no hope in him. The dead in Sheol dwelt in darkness and eventually lost all spark of life which they might have had at the beginning of their stay in the world of the dead. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates “they force me to live in darkness, like those who died long ago.” Made me sit in darkness or Good News Translation has “numbed with horror,” New Jerusalem Bible “numb with fear,” New English Bible “dazed with despair.” The verb means to be stupefied, desolated, disconsolate; in the expressive American idiom, “to be wiped out” (see its use in 40.15a; “laid waste” in 79.7b).

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 .