In line a Good News Translation (as well as New English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Zürcher Bibel) follows a conjecture, “My throat,” for the Masoretic text my strength, which Revised Standard Version prefers. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says that it is possible that “My throat” was the original text, but stays with the Masoretic text, since there is no ancient witness in support of “My throat.”

A potsherd is a piece of broken clay jar, completely dry and brittle. Good News Translation substitutes “dust” for potsherd. While potsherds are found in many parts of the world, they are not always associated with expressions for “dryness.” If translators follow the wording of “throat,” they should find an idiomatic expression which will render the idea of dryness in the throat. Simply saying “my throat is dry like a broken pot” will in most cases communicate nothing of the extreme degree of a parched throat.

The word which Revised Standard Version translates jaws occurs only here in the Old Testament. It is more natural in English to speak of the tongue sticking to the roof of the mouth (Good News Translation) than of it sticking to the jaws. What has been said about potsherd also applies to jaws in 15b.

In the last line the psalmist attributes his desperate condition to Yahweh himself. Dahood, however, takes the verb form as being third feminine (not second masculine), in a collective sense, “they put me” (so An American Translation), and New English Bible changes to passive, “I am laid low.” The majority, however, take the Masoretic text to mean that the psalmist is saying that it is Yahweh who has brought him to the brink of death. The dust of death is a poetic phrase for the grave, recalling also Sheol as a place of dust (see Job 7.21; Psa 7.5; 90.3).

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 .