In verse 1 God and LORD are used; in 40.13 “LORD” is used twice. In verse 1a in Revised Standard Version Be pleased is taken from 40.13; the word is not used here. The Hebrew text has simply “O God, to deliver me.”

Good News Translation “who try to kill me” in verse 2 translates “who seek my nefesh,” whereas 40.14 has “who seek to snatch away my nefesh”; the meaning in both places is the same. And the word translated “completely” in 40.14 is not used here. In languages which do not use passive constructions it will often be necessary to recast line b; for example, “I ask that you defeat and confuse the people who try to kill me.”

Let them be turned back refers to the defeat of the psalmist’s enemies and in some languages may be expressed as “stop them and cause them to run away.” Dishonor is sometimes translated “to take away their praise” or “to remove their greatness and make them unimportant.”

In verse 3b “to me” of 40.15 does not appear, but the meaning is the same. People are making fun of the psalmist. Verse 3 requires considerable restructuring, particularly in languages which do not use the passive voice; for example, one may say “I ask that you defeat people who make fun of me, and cause them to have burning faces.”

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 .