In verse 4 those who are good in line a is parallel with those who are upright in their hearts in line b. Both are ways of describing people who obey the Torah, the law of God. New Jerusalem Bible and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translate line b “to the sincere at heart.” The prayer Do good translates “Give good things,” which may be represented by “Bless.”

Good News Translation (also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) has represented the language of verse 5 by a direct petition addressed to Yahweh, and not by a wish, in which he is spoken of in the third person, which is how the Hebrew text has it. Those who turn aside upon their crooked ways are those who abandon the good way that Yahweh sets out for them, and follow their own evil ways; these are Israelites who have turned away from Yahweh. The prayer is that Yahweh punish them at the same time that he punishes the evildoers, that is, Gentiles, the heathen. Here the punishment (lead away) is either exile (New International Version “banish”) or death (New English Bible “destroys”). Biblia Dios Habla Hoy is good: “make them suffer the fate of evildoers.” Good News Translation‘s “those who abandon your ways” may sometimes be rendered, for example, “people who do not trust you,” or idiomatically, “people who do not walk on your road.”

The concluding words are a prayer for the shalom of Israel (see 29.11), which New Jerusalem Bible translates “May it be well with Israel!” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “May prosperity and peace come upon Israel!”

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 .