feel (terror / pain / suffering / anxiety / thirst)

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “feel (terror, pain, suffering, anxiety, thirst)” or similar in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) in association with the verb kumva or “hear,” “as if the feeling is heard in the ear.”

In Psalm 115:7 the stand-alone “feel” is also translated as “hear.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also angry

complete verse (Psalm 38:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 38:17:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “For I am about to fall,
    and I feel pain all the time.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “I am about to fall down,
    I am in constant pain.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “As-if I am-about to-perish/be-destroyed, and my suffering does- not -stop.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Eastern Bru:
    “I am already close to falling, and this pain is continually with me.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “I near to fall down
    and my body still painful always.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Niko karibu kuanguka,
    bado nasikia maumivu sana.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “I say that because I am about to fall down, and I constantly have pain.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Psalm 38:17

It is difficult to decide whether I am ready to fall refers to the psalmist’s physical condition, weakened by his illness (“I am about to die”), or to his situation in face of his enemies (they are about to ruin him). In verse 16b he speaks of his foot slipping, and here he states that at any time he could fall fatally, meaning either total ruin or death (see Anderson). Perhaps something like “I am ready to give up” best expresses the psalmist’s feelings. New Jerusalem Bible translates “I am on the verge of collapse,” and Bible en français courant “I am about to disappear.”

My pain is ever with me must often be recast to say, for example, “I suffer all the time,” “my pain never leaves me,” or sometimes idiomatically, “pain has taken hold of my body and never lets go.”

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 .