The psalm opens with a call to thank Yahweh (verse 1), which is exactly like the opening call in 106.l. “His love is eternal” must often be recast to say “he loves people forever.” For comments on love see 5.7.

All the redeemed are to repeat these words of thanksgiving (verse 2). The Hebrew verb for “to save” is used twice in this verse (see 69.18; 19.14). Good News Translation has translated “the redeemed of Yahweh” by “all you whom he has saved,” and “say” by “Repeat these words.” If the translator follows Good News Translation “Repeat these words…,” it will be necessary in some languages to make certain that the pointing device that is used points back to the words in verse 1. English “these” may refer forward as well as backward. In many languages it will be more natural to place “all you whom he has saved” before the command.

The people whom Yahweh has saved are to thank him because he rescued them from their enemies–literally “the hand of the enemy” (verse 2b). The Hebrew word can be taken to mean trouble, as Revised Standard Version has done (see New Jerusalem Bible “adversity”); most take it in a personal sense as “enemies” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, New International Version, New English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy).

Yahweh has brought his people from the lands (that is, from exile in “foreign countries”; see the prayer in 106.47) to Jerusalem, where they are gathered to worship him in the Temple.

In Hebrew the last word in verse 3 is “and from the sea”; such directional use of the word means “the west,” the sea being the Mediterranean. Since the west has already been mentioned in the verse, the Masoretic text miyyam “from the sea” is changed to miyamin from the south (Good News Translation, New American Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, New International Version, New English Bible, all with textual footnotes; Revised Standard Version and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy do not have footnotes). New Jerusalem Bible translates the Masoretic text “from the sea,” and Dahood translates it “from the southern sea,” taking it to refer to the Gulf of Aqaba.1-3 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project sees no reason to depart from the Masoretic text. It seems better to emend the text (see Anderson, Kirkpatrick). For translation suggestions regarding geographic directions, see 75.6; 89.12; 103.12. It may be more suitable in some languages to say, for example, “from every direction” or “from every place in the world.”

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 .