In verse 34 it is obvious that the psalmist is not saying that dead people sought God, as the Revised Standard Version literal translation of the Hebrew says (similarly Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New American Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Dahood). New English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible translate “When he struck them,” but the verb is the same one used in verse 31b. The meaning is quite clearly that, when God killed some of them, then the others would “search for him” (see Anderson).
The action of the survivors is described by three verbs: “search … turn … look for” (Revised Standard Version they sought … they repented and sought). For “search” see “seek” and comments at 9.10, and for “look for” see comments on “seek” at 63.1. “Turn (or, return)” is the word generally used for repentance in the Old Testament. Good News Translation has expressed the meaning of the verbs by “turn to him … repent … pray earnestly to him.” Bible en français courant “they turned to God, they returned to him and sought his help.”
Their repentance lasted only as long as there was danger of punishment. They would remember that God was their rock (see 18.2 and comments), their redeemer (see the comment on goʾel in 19.14). Here remembered means they thought about the fact that God was, indeed, their protector and savior. But this conscious awareness did not for long sustain them, and they went back to their sinful ways. Instead of the Masoretic text “their rock,” New English Bible changes the vowels that go with the Hebrew consonants to get “their Creator.” New Jerusalem Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and New English Bible join verse 35 to verse 34 as one sentence; this makes good sense, and translators may find it useful to follow their example.
For comments on Most High see 7.17; here the full title ʾel ʿelyon, “God the Mighty One,” is used.
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 .