In this petition the psalmist calls urgently to Yahweh for help (verse 7a; see 141.1), because he feels his situation is hopeless–literally “My spirit is gone” (verse 7b; see similar language in verse 4a). Verse 7c is like 27.9a, and verse 7d is the same as 28.1d (see also 88.4). The psalmist feels he will die if Yahweh doesn’t save him.

The request in verse 8, that at morning (or, at dawn) the psalmist will hear of Yahweh’s steadfast love, may be a way of saying “daily, every day” (as it seems to be in 90.14), or it may involve the belief that it was in the early hours of the day that God answered prayers (see 46.5). Perhaps there was the practice of spending the night in the Temple, waiting for the answer to prayers to come at dawn. Good News Translation assumes that Yahweh himself is being asked to reassure the psalmist of his love (also Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), and not that some unnamed person will do this, as the impersonal Let me hear of Revised Standard Version states it. It seems best to follow Good News Translation here. In verse 8c the psalmist prays for guidance (see 32.8; 86.11); for verse 8d see 25.1; 86.4b. Good News Translation reverses lines c and d, since it takes “I lift up my nefesh to you” in line d to mean prayer; New Jerusalem Bible, however, translates “I have set my hope” (parallel with line b). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “I turn my heart and my mind to you.” Nearly all others translate quite literally. It is not necessary in translation to force I lift up my soul to mean that the prayer ascends to where God is. One may translate simply “I pray to you” or “I say my prayer to you.”

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 .