Intro: It bothers me that Bible translators have ignored a major feature of some of the psalms and particularly Psalm 119. This longest of all the psalms, clocking in at 176 verses, is an acrostic. Every 8-verse set begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, working from aleph to taw in sequence.
Translators don’t completely ignore this feature, often creating little subheads over each 8-verse set, noting the Hebrew letter emphasized. That’s nice and all, but it’s not reflected in the poetry of the psalm. No translating committee ever actually addresses this, with the assumption that it’s too difficult to do translation and have it fit an acrostic pattern. I say: Absurd! If you’re not a poet, you shouldn’t be translating the Psalms. Stick to 2 Chronicles.
As I’ve written elsewhere, all so-called “translation” is really interpretation, since words don’t mean exactly the same thing from one language to the next. This is particularly true in poetry, where all kinds of word-play factors add extra nuance to word choice and word use — factors we can only guess at from this distance. So, since word-for-word translation is an impossibility with the Psalms, why not render them acrostically, the easiest poetic feature to replicate? Let’s push the poetry of our English renderings so it matches as much as possible its Hebrew poetic sense.
So, here’s a rendering of the first 8-verse stanza of Psalm 119, the aleph or “A” verses.
Psalm 119:1-8
Ahhh. Life is so good
When no one can point an accusing finger at you,
When the path you walk
Is clearly marked out by Yahweh’s signs.
Abundant and full.
That’s life for those
Whose lives match God’s written rules,
Who have made him their life’s quest.
Avoiding bad choices
They stick to his ways of doing life.
As an asphalt highway,
Smooth and clearly marked,
Are the guidelines you’ve laid down for us, God.
Alas!
If only I’d stick to your directions,
Never steering from the map you’ve provided.
A lot of pain could’ve be avoided
If I’d only kept your instructions in mind.
All my heart turns to praise
As I finally see the destination
Your laws have been pointing me toward.
Attach yourself to me, God,
As I attach myself to your orders.