English to Latin Please

August 5, 2011 8:23 PM

Latinists, will you please translate this?

Latinists, will you please translate this into Latin?

"I am his rod and his staff."

The context is for a fictional religious zealot/psychopath, and the quote is a reference to Psalm 23:4. I think in the Vulgate it is not actually the 4th verse.

Thank you in advance.

posted by rahnefan to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

Response by poster: Heh, also it's a Nick Cave lyric; I almost forgot about that...not relevant to my needs though. :)
posted by rahnefan at 8:25 PM on August 5, 2011

Virga sua et baculus suus, ipsa sum.

Technically you can do without the ipsa, but it's nicer and straight out of the Vulgate. "His rod and his staff, I am these very things," as in ipso facto, "by that very fact."
posted by skbw at 8:50 PM on August 5, 2011

Best answer: virga et baculus sum eius. On preview, suus/sua is incorrect because that's the reflexive possessive adjective; it must refer back to the subject, which in this case is 'I', not 'he'.

(My answer is assuming that his = God's? And is therefore important. If it's the "I" that's more important then something like virga et baculus (eius) sum ego would be better.)
posted by lysimache at 8:57 PM on August 5, 2011

Response by poster: Thank you, all three. lysimache, your assumption is correct. Would this"sound" as if it is a direct response to someone quoting Psalm 23? That is important.
posted by rahnefan at 7:39 AM on August 6, 2011

The Latin Translator. Pay the money if you want to be truly certain.
posted by elle.jeezy at 2:26 PM on August 6, 2011