The psalm concludes with the final prayer for the complete destruction and everlasting shame of the enemies of Israel (see similar language in 35.26; 40.14-15; 70.2-3). In verse 16a the psalmist asks Yahweh to disgrace them; better than Revised Standard Version or Good News Translation, the New English Bible phrase here is more natural in English, “Heap shame upon their heads”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “Put them to shame.” For some idioms on shame see 6.10.

In language that is not very logical, the people pray for the destruction of their enemies (verse 17b) so that they, the enemies, will seek thy name (verse 16b). This could mean “turn to you,” that is, either for help (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) or to obey and worship (Bible en français courant); or else, as New English Bible has it, “confess the greatness of thy name,” or Good News Translation “acknowledge your power.” If the translator follows Good News Translation, this phrase will have to be recast in some languages to say, for example, “make them acknowledge that you are powerful” or, as direct address, “make them say, ‘God, you are powerful.’ ”

Verse 17 intensifies the request for the complete and disgraceful extermination of Israel’s enemies, so that in verse 18 they may realize that God alone is the LORD, the supreme ruler of all the earth (see 59.13).

Let … put to shame in the Hebrew is not a passive but an active form, “be ashamed.” The thought is parallel and synonymous with verse 16a, although a different term for shame is used there. Languages such as English use the passive, but in languages in which the passive cannot be used here, it will be necessary to shift to the active and introduce God as the agent of the action; for example, “Make them ashamed for ever, and terrify them.”

The Hebrew verbs in verse 17b have been reversed because of English style, in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. In disgrace translates a verb, a third term for deep shame. The prayer is that the enemies may suffer such shame that they will perish. This is the final and deepest stage of their disgrace.

Verse 18 returns to the thought of verse 16b, but in greater detail. In Hebrew it can be understood in slightly different ways. For an Israelite to write “you alone are named Yahweh” seems trite, superficial, since there was no other god who claimed the name Yahweh. So it may be better, with Revised Standard Version and New International Version, to say “you alone, whose name is Yahweh, are the supreme ruler of all the earth”; or else, as Bible en français courant has it, “So that they may know who you are, Lord, the only God most-high over all the earth.”

Only here in the Psalms does King James Version translate the divine name by “JEHOVAH”; elsewhere it is always “the LORD.” Only three times elsewhere in the Old Testament does King James Version use “JEHOVAH” by itself, and three other times in combination with other names.

Here again, the Most High translates ʿelyon, one of the names for God in the Hebrew Bible (see 7.17 and comments).

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 .