For Blessed be in verse 12a, see comments on 18.46; 16.7. Bible en français courant translates “Thank you, Lord,” and New International Version “Praise be to you.” And for statutes in verse 12b, see the same word in verses 5b, 8a.

Verse 13 is a declaration, not a promise. The psalmist states that he likes to recite Yahweh’s laws, With my lips I declare. The Hebrew verb may mean to tell or to number (see its use in 9.1b, “I will tell”). See the instruction in Deuteronomy 6.7, “you … shall talk of them,” that is, of Yahweh’s commandments. In order to make clear that this is not a silent procedure, Good News Translation has “I will repeat aloud….” New English Bible is good: “I say them over, one by one,” which includes the idea of numeration (see Bible de Jérusalem, “I will enumerate them all”).

The literal translation of verse 13b in Revised Standard Version is not normal English idiom. New Jerusalem Bible is “all the rules You proclaimed”; New Jerusalem Bible “all the judgments you have given”; New English Bible “the decrees that thou hast proclaimed.” If the translator follows Good News Translation‘s “all the laws you have given,” in some languages it will be necessary to specify the receivers and say “given to your people.”

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 .