Translating the Psalms

As a text that was printed soon after the puritans settled in New England, the Bay Psalm Book text contains words and phrases more appropriate and consistent with it's time. In some instances the Bay Psalm book may even reflect the Puritans' move to America and their views of other people.  In Psalm 2 the Bay Psalm Book uses  

instead of as it appears in Alter's translation as "and your holdings, the ends of the earth" (vs 8). By using "coasts abroad" rather than ends of the earth, the puritan translation of the psalm is consistent in reflecting the puritan desire to find a land abroad (which could in this case be interpreted as America) in which to practice their religion. "Ends of the earth" is more vague than "coasts abroad" in that the ends of the earth is far away places where as coasts abroad may, in a way, represent where the puritans are when this translation was written in 1640, namely, America. Besides using the vernacular of the time, the Bay Psalm book uses the word "heathen" rather than "nations" as it appears in Alter's translation.

This may be a reflection of  the Puritan's particular views as well seen in their word choice. "Heathen" stresses that the people of these other nations are not part of the Judeo-Christian tradition, those that need to be converted to Christianity. The Puritans felt were very strict and felt strongly about non-believers.

       Beyond these two specific examples of word choice used by the puritans, the language itself reflects the time in which the psalms were translated. Although I am not sure if the people of that time actually spoke in the same vernacular seen in the psalms, the psalms reflect the spelling conventions of the time and the speech matches that which has been used for many years and to some extent can be seen in the King James version of the Bible which has been used in many churches until recent years.

     In Psalm 15, the Bay Psalm book often flips the order of words in phrases, instead of saying "The debased in his eyes is repugnant" (vs. 4) as it appears in Aster's translation, it is stated as in the Bay Psalm Book. The Puritans sought to translate the psalms as purely as possible at the risk of awkward sounding phrases with words out of order, another reflection of their particular beliefs. Although Robert Alter seeks to translate the psalms as accurately as possible he sometimes uses words that fit better and make more sense than the literal translation would.

      Through language we see that the social context for these two versions of the psalms is very different from one another.