The psalmist again refers to his disease, using a word which Revised Standard Version translates plague and which in Leviticus 13–14 is used of skin disease (“leprosy”) and also of mold and mildew on clothes, materials, houses. So Good News Translation has here “sores” (see also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy); New American Bible and New Jerusalem Bible, however, translate “affliction”; New English Bible “sickness.” Perhaps some general word like “illness” or “sickness” is the best to use.

His friends and companions and his kinsmen avoid him (see the similar situation in 31.11). The reason is not only the repulsive nature of his illness (which they probably considered contagious), but also the assumption that a person in such a desperate condition was the object of God’s anger and so should be avoided. Companions is hardly distinguishable from friends; so Biblia Dios Habla Hoy joins the two into one phrase, “my best friends”; and Bible en français courant identifies the two, “My friends, my constant companions.” The word translated kinsmen is literally “those who are near to me” and may mean “neighbors,” as some translate it. “Because of my sores” in Good News Translation sometimes requires making the reason more explicit; for example, “they will not come near me because they are afraid of my sores” or “… because they are afraid of catching my sickness.”

One of the tasks of the poet was to use repetition for selected purposes and to avoid it if it did not serve his purposes. Since every word in a language does not have a synonym, it was sometimes necessary for the psalmist to use the same word in parallel lines, but to alter the tense, voice, mood, or conjugation. In this verse the Hebrew verb translated stand is such a case. In line a the verb is in the imperfect tense, and in line b it is in the perfect tense. In translation it may be necessary, as in Good News Translation, to use different verbs or verb phrases.

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 .