The first strophe (verses 1-3) calls upon all people to give thanks to the LORD, for he is good (see 106.1); he is the God of gods (verse 2) and the Lord of lords (verse 3), a Semitic way of saying “the greatest of all gods” and “the mightiest of all lords” (see similar language in Deut 10.17). Lords is to be taken as a synonym of gods, referring to supernatural beings (see 135.5). God of gods and Lord of lords has been handled in Good News Translation by use of the superlatives “greatest” and “mightiest.” In languages which form the superlative in very indirect ways, one may have to say this by way of contrast; for example, “God is very great; the gods are not great. Give thanks to God” or “the gods are great a little bit; God is very great. Give thanks to the great God.”
The repeated refrain “his chesed is everlasting” uses the one word which more than any other expresses Yahweh’s attitude toward his people (see 5.7). The word is variously translated: steadfast love (Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible), “love” or “constant love” (Good News Translation, New English Bible, New International Version, Bible de Jérusalem, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy), “mercy” (New American Bible), “kindness” (Dahood), “faithfulness” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), “faithful love” (New Jerusalem Bible). The two primary components are Yahweh’s love and his faithfulness in keeping his covenant with the people of Israel. Good News Translation‘s “his love is eternal” may have to be recast in some languages to say, for example, “he loves his people forever” or “God will love his people forever.”
In printed editions of this psalm, it will be helpful for public reading to print the refrain (line b) in each verse differently from the way in which line a is printed. Several editions of the Hebrew Bible print each verse on a single line, but the repeated refrains are printed at the ends of the lines against the margin, so that they form a column. There are many other possible formats.
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 .