Translators felt free to choose what George Wither calls "easy and passionate Psalms," and, if they desired, create "elegant-seeming paraphrases ...
"Early Theories of Translation"
Flora Ross Amos
Some of his paraphrases are actually greater poems than the originals.
"The Literature of Ecstasy"
Albert Mordell
No one calls these paraphrases poetry.
"The Literature of Ecstasy"
Albert Mordell