The psalmist gives a list of Yahweh’s acts of kindness toward him: forgiveness, healing, protection from death, and spiritual and material blessings. In Hebrew these verses follow without a break from verses 1-2 (see Revised Standard Version) as a lengthy description of the kind of God Yahweh is, in terms of what he does for the psalmist. Good News Translation has started a new sentence with verse 3 and changed the personal references to “me,” “my,” and “I,” in place of the second person form of address, “you” (that is, referring to “my soul” in verses 1-2). New English Bible does the same.
Forgives translates a verb found in the Psalms only here and in 25.11; the related adjective “forgiving” is used in 86.5. For translation suggestions on forgives all your iniquity, see 25.18.
In verse 4a the verb gaʾal “redeems” is used in the sense of rescue (see comments on the noun, 19.14, and the verb, 25.22; 69.18). Together with the Pit, a synonym for Sheol (see 6.5; 16.10), these terms are taken by most as a deliverance from death. Dahood understands the words to mean resurrection. In verse 4b Good News Translation “blesses” translates the verb crowns (see comments at 8.5), an expression which describes an unusual honor and favor. The two outstanding blessings are Yahweh’s steadfast love (see 5.7) and his mercy (see 40.11) for the psalmist. The Good News Translation expression “keeps me from the grave,” which makes clear the meaning of redeems … from the Pit, must often be recast as “who does not let me die.” The expression “blesses me with love and mercy” must often be recast as phrases showing manner; for example, “he gives me good things by loving me and being kind to me.”
In verse 5a, for Good News Translation “my life,” the Masoretic text has a word that seems to mean “your ornaments” (see 2 Sam 1.24), which makes no sense here (King James Version “your mouth” is wrong). Most emend to a word meaning “your lifetime” (see Briggs, Anderson; see 104.33; 146.2) or else translate the Masoretic text as “the prime of life” (New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). The Septuagint has “your desire” (so Weiser, “your longing”); New American Bible translates the Masoretic text “your lifetime”; Dahood translates it “your eternity,” as a reference to the blessed afterlife in heaven; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “your strength.”3-5 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says the meaning of the Hebrew expression is no longer known with certainty; the most probable interpretation is “your vitality.” If the translator follows the Good News Translation model, the expression “fills my life with…” may have to be recast to say “he gives me good things as long as I live.”
The eagle was famous for its strength (see Isa 40.31) and long life. If the eagle is unknown, a local bird of prey which is known to live to old age should be 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 .