On the basis of Yahweh’s attitude toward his people, the psalmist prays for himself. Remember not (my sins) is equivalent to “Forgive (my sins)”; the psalmist prays that God will not keep a record of the sins and transgressions (or, wrongs; see 19.13) he committed when he was young. So “Do not recall…”; see Bible en français courant “Don’t think any longer about….” The sins of my youth must often be recast as two clauses; for example, “the sins I did when I was a young person.”

On the contrary, the psalmist wants the LORD to remember him on the basis of his–the LORD’s–steadfast love and goodness. The two noun phrases may be translated as clauses, “Because you love (your people),” and “because you are good (to your people).”

The last two lines (as in Revised Standard Version) are not precisely parallel: “according to your constant love, remember me, on account of your goodness, Yahweh.” But the thought is parallel, and Good News Translation has combined the two elements (also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy); New Jerusalem Bible translates the third line “as befits Your goodness, O LORD.” The semantic parallelism is contained in the two contrasting petitions, Remember not in line a and remember me in line b. However, in translation it may not be possible to retain the parallelism in this manner. If “remember me” simply means to recall who I am, it will be better shift to “think about me,” “be good to me,” or “take care of me.”

In some languages it will be necessary to restructure the last two lines of this verse as reason and request; for example, “because you always love your people and are good to them, remember me, LORD.”

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 .