In this strophe (verses 4-7) the psalmist expresses his complete confidence in Yahweh, who is in his holy temple, whose throne is in heaven. It is probable that here temple refers to Yahweh’s heavenly dwelling, as the next line defines it (see also 18.6); it is possible, but not probable, that the psalmist is speaking of the Temple in Jerusalem and is affirming that Yahweh, who rules in heaven, is present with his people in the Temple. In the expression his holy temple, holy refers to being dedicated to God or being set apart for God’s use (see 5.7). In the present context it is also possible to say, for example, “in God’s own Temple,” since the Temple is holy by belonging to him. One may also say “in the Temple belonging to God.” The LORD’s throne is in heaven may be expressed in nonfigurative terms; for example, “The LORD rules from heaven.”

Yahweh is described as watching and judging the actions of all humankind. Two parallel statements portray this in picturesque language: his eyes behold and his eyelids test (same verb as in 7.9, “triest”). He sees and evaluates everything that everybody does. Very rarely will a translation want to follow the Hebrew and say, as Revised Standard Version does, his eyelids test. Most translations will use the verbs “watch” or “see,” and “judge” or “evaluate.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates “with his eyes open the Lord watches all men carefully”; Bible en français courant “He doesn’t lose sight of human beings, he judges them at a glance.” Aside from the similar word order and phonetic features in Hebrew, the semantic parallelism in verse 4 shows two double lines, in which throne in line b is a part of temple in line a, and eyelids in line d is a part of eyes in line c. Good News Translation has retained this “part” feature of the parallelism in the first two lines but has switched to the nonmetaphors “watches” and “knows” in the last two lines. Translators may be able to come closer to the Hebrew pair in a natural manner, as in Biblia Dios Habla Hoy and Bible en français courant.

The Hebrew expression “sons of man” (Revised Standard Version children of men) in this context means all people, all humanity.

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 .