Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3/Verse 39

Chapter 3/Verse 39

आवृतं ज्ञानमेतेन ज्ञानिनो नित्यवैरिणा ।
कामरूपेण कौन्तेय दुष्पूरेणानलेन च ॥३- ३९॥

āvṛtaṃ jñānametena jñānino nityavairiṇā ।
kāmarūpeṇa kaunteya duṣpūreṇānalena ca ॥3- 39॥

O Son of Kunti, with that knowledge covered, the wise ones with the imperishable enemy in the form of desire and with matters belonging to Agni that are difficult to satiate. 

Word-for-word translations

āvṛtam (past passive participle, neuter, nominative, singular) = covered

jñānam (neuter, nominative, singular) = knowledge

etena (neuter, instrumental, singular) = with that

jñāninas (neuter, nominative, plural) = the wise ones  

nityavairiṇā (masculine, instrumental, singular) = with the imperishable enemy

kāmarūpeṇa (masculine, instrumental, singular) = with the form of desire 

kaunteya (masculine, vocative, singular) = O Son of Kunti (epithet of Arjuna) 

duṣpūreṇa (masculine, instrumental, singular) = with difficulty to satiate 

ānalena (masculine, instrumental, singular) = with matters belonging to Agni

ca (conjunction) (indeclinable) = and 

Commentary

This verse is written very poetically, so most past translations chose not to stick to a grammatically correct translation. My translation still sticks to the literal interpretation. The idea of the verse is that even people possessed of wisdom will have their knowledge covered by rajas "in the form of desire and with matters belonging to Agni that are difficult to satiate." Even the last part of this verse is cryptic, which would take more explanation to unfold.

This verse reveals why the word for "wisdom" is referred to in the previous verse by several translations, which did not make any sense at the time given the word for "wisdom" is not mentioned in the last verse nor in any recent, previous verse to the last verse.