In verse 15a the psalmist alludes to his life-long illness, which we cannot identify with certainty; he sees it as coming from God (verse 15b). Thy terrors means the terrifying things Yahweh has done; Bible en français courant “the terror that you impose on me”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “I have endured terrible things you have done to me.” Good News Translation “your punishments” may imply that these things happen as a result of sin, but that idea does not occur in the Hebrew of this psalm. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “terrible things” is better. I am helpless translates a word found only here in the Old Testament and whose meaning is uncertain; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “I can’t take it any more!”; New Jerusalem Bible “I am finished”; New International Version “and am in despair.” New Jerusalem Bible, following the Jewish commentator Saadia, translates “wherever I turn.”
The psalmist feels crushed and destroyed (literally “silenced”; so Weiser) by the blows which God, in his anger, rains down on him (verse 16). In line a swept over translates a verb meaning to assail or overwhelm, like a strong wind that blows everything down (see its use in 103.16a). There is no escaping from God’s attacks (verse 17; see similar language in verse 7). They are like enemies all around him who are moving in to kill him.
Verse 18a repeats the thought of verse 8a; although Revised Standard Version (also New English Bible) lover is a possible translation of the Hebrew word, it is not suitable in the context. It may be that the psalmist was referring to his wife; it is certain he would not have meant “lover” in the common meaning of the word today. New International Version has “my companions and loved ones”; Bible en français courant “all my friends”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and New Jerusalem Bible “friend and neighbor”; and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “friends and companions.”
The last line in Hebrew is “my acquaintances darkness,” which Good News Translation and others understand to mean “and darkness is my only companion” (Dahood, Weiser, Cohen, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New American Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy; Dahood takes “Darkness” as a name for Sheol). It does not seem probable that the Hebrew means, as An American Translation and Revised Standard Version have, my companions are in darkness. For languages in which an abstract such as darkness could not naturally be said to be a companion, it is possible to recast this figurative expression to say something like “every place I go there is only darkness” or “wherever I am it is always dark.”
New English Bible places different vowels on the Hebrew consonants to get the meaning “and deprived me of my companions”; this is exactly parallel with line a and may be the meaning intended; but the Masoretic text does make sense, and it is to be preferred.
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 .