Now the psalmist speaks of how he and his friend used to go together to the Temple. Line a in Hebrew is “with whom we together enjoyed close fellowship,” to be understood either as “have intimate (or, lovely) talks” or “had sweet fellowship” (New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version), “kept pleasant company” (New English Bible). The Revised Standard Version expression hold sweet converse together and Good News Translation “intimate talks” in some languages can be translated idiomatically; for example, “we put heart stories to each other” or “we laid heart words upon each other.”

Line b is “in the house of God we walked in the throng.” “Throng” translates the noun regesh, which occurs only here; a related noun occurs only in 64.2b (“mobs”); and the verb ragash appears only in 2.1 (“plan rebellion”). So it seems that the Hebrew noun means “crowd”; so Dahood “mingle among the throngs” (similarly Oesterley, Weiser, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). Some, however, taking the meaning from the Septuagint “in unity,” translate simply “together”: so the interpretation of Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible. This seems to be the best option.

Good News Translation “worshiped” may be a legitimate inference from the context of the passage; it seems better, however, to stay closer to the Hebrew “walked” or “walked about.”

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 .