In this strophe (letter pe, verses 129-136) the psalmist praises the Law, prays for Yahweh’s mercy, and asks to be saved from his enemies. Here the heading may be adjusted to say “The psalmist wants to obey the Law of the LORD.”
The psalmist praises Yahweh’s laws as wonderful (“marvelous, excellent”), and so he obeys them; for keeps them see verse 67b. The phrase “my nefesh” in verse 129b is a way of saying “I.”
In verse 130a the first word in the Hebrew text occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament and is generally taken to mean “disclosure, communication”; so Revised Standard Version unfolding, Good News Translation “explanation” (also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch); New American Bible has “revelation,” and New Jerusalem Bible translates “As your word unfolds it gives light.” But some take the word to be derived from a verb meaning “engrave”; so New Jerusalem Bible has “The words You inscribed give light,” which is probably a way of referring to the Ten Commandments, which in Hebrew are “The Ten Words.” It seems better to follow the interpretation of the majority. Good News Translation‘s “explanation of your teachings gives light” is a difficult model to follow in translation, because it does not say who explains nor to whom the light is given. In languages in which it will be necessary to make the agent of the first verb explicit, it will often be clearer to say, for example, “You reveal your words and they give light,” “You show your teaching to people and they receive light,” or, without God as the agent of the action, “People discover your teaching and this gives them light.”
In verse 130b the simple are unlearned, uninformed people who do not know the Torah; see similar idea in 19.7; 116.6. It imparts understanding to the simple may be recast sometimes to say, for example, “and makes ignorant people wise” or “enables people who know nothing to be wise people.”
Good News Translation has reversed the two lines in verse 131 for greater ease of understanding. The expressive figure used by the psalmist indicates his eagerness to know and obey Yahweh’s commands. With open mouth I pant (see Job 29.23b) suggests to the modern reader the picture of an animal panting in eagerness to be fed; it is a figure of a very strong desire. Bible en français courant takes it as a figure of drinking, “I avidly drink in your words.” The verb translated I long for is found only here in the Old Testament. In languages in which the panting image obscures the meaning of great desire, it will be best to say something like “I have a very great desire for your commands” or “I wait with great desire for you to command me.” The translator may find another metaphor more suitable to express this desire. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy adapts the panting figure by saying “I open my mouth with great desire because I desire your commandments.”
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 .