This verse continues the long and bitter meditation on the wicked.
His ways means the way of life, plans, and actions, as in 1.6. Prosper translates a verb found only here and in Job 20.21, “to endure, be strong.” Prosper may be rendered as “to get all one wants.” In some languages one may say, for example, “evil people always get what they desire.” The psalmist is not stating an absolute truth; in his despair he is saying that this is what seems to happen.
In line b the psalmist speaks of God’s judgments as being beyond the wicked man’s understanding, using the striking statement “Your judgments are high, far away from him!” Bible en français courant translates “The judgments of God don’t affect him.”5 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says that the Hebrew word for on high may be interpreted in two ways: (1) “your judgments are on high, far from his eyes” (as Revised Standard Version); or (2) “O Most High, your judgments are far from his eyes.” On high refers to the purpose and nature of God’s judging and can be rendered, for example, “he cannot understand how God judges people” or “he cannot understand God’s way of judging people.”
New English Bible, instead of taking the word for foes in the sense of the verb “to be hostile,” takes it as “restraint”: “he scoffs at all restraint.” While possible, this does not seem very probable, and Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation should be followed.
Puffs translates a verb meaning “to hiss, breathe hard.” New Jerusalem Bible has “snorts,” New Jerusalem Bible “scoffs,” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “spits.” The Hebrew term means to hold in contempt. In many languages such expressions are rendered in idiomatic language; for example, “to wag the head at” or “to shake the fingers at.” In nonfigurative language one may say “they consider their enemies to be worthless” or “they treat their enemies as if they were nothing.”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .