At the risk of making errors of context, here is my edit of your translation: “What are you worried about? You were trying to make conversation the whole time we were walking/riding/flying.” (If the pair had been traveling together and Zvi was talkative at that time but not now. If it is unknown how they were traveling, you could say "...trying to make conversation the whole time before.) Zvi looks up slowly, staring vacantly above. (This is more concise than “staring somewhere above, vacantly.”) “I can’t put it in a nutshell,” he says after a short pause. “It’s all inside. There’s no simple explanation for it.” (“Put it in a nutshell” is very informal and seems out of place here but, again, it depends on context. Often in conversation we just say, “I can’t explain it.”) The smuggler points at his heart and pats his chest. The armor echoes with a small thud. (I like “pats his chest” after “points at his heart” because it leads logically to the sound when he pats. “Thud” implies it is empty inside.) “I’m always thinking…If, as they say, God sees everyone, knows all about us…Does it mean I miss out on the chance of absolution even before I came to believe?” (We use an ellipsis ... often when expressing pauses in conversation. Just a suggestion. Also, “even before I came to believe” is unclear. Does he mean “because I didn’t believe before” and he now believes? Or is he asking if it’s too late to start believing, like “Does it mean I miss out on the chance of absolution even if I come to believe?”) People have been scolded for trying to edit translations but I think it is good to give you an idea of more natural sounding English. Of course, all translations depend on context and trying to understand the precise “voice” of the original writer without taking away from the beauty of the original language.