Translating a difficult passage

Let’s take a look at the last part of Psalm 119:75. Here it is in the King James Version.

…and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

“In his faithfulness he will afflict us?” Really? I don’t know about you, but the first time I read this translation while working on the mechanical translation I was like, “What?”

In the Hebrew, this is just two words.

וֶאֱמוּנָה עִנִּיתָנִי

The first word is the word emunah, which is usually translated as “faith,” but I prefer the more concrete definition of “secure.” This word also includes the prefix meaning “and.”

The second word is a verb that literally translates as “you afflicted me.”

Here is a very literal translation for this phrase:

...and secure you will afflict me.

As you can see, it is a little ambiguous and difficult to interpret. The KJV fixed this by adding the words “that” and “in” into the text. It is necessary to add words in the English, the translator must be very careful. I will only do it, when absolutely necessary and in this case it is necessary. But I found a translation for this, that is a little different, and it only needed to add one English word, and, in my opinion, makes more sense. Let me know what you think.

…and you will afflict me [with] security. 

Now that is an affliction I could use.