In verses 20-24 the psalmist declares his complete innocence, the integrity and uprightness of his character and conduct. It is to be noticed that in verses 20-24 and 35-38, Good News Translation uses the present tense of the verbs to indicate habitual, or continuous, action, while Revised Standard Version has the past tense, indicating specific, isolated events. Most translations in English are like Revised Standard Version, but there is no certain way to determine which is correct. Good News Translation (also New Jerusalem Bible) is preferred, but the translator should feel free to follow Revised Standard Version.
Verse 20 again has the metaphor in the second line (cleanness of my hands) as a means of stepping up the vividness of the parallelism. This heightening is lost in Good News Translation, which has “because I am innocent.”
For the verb “to reward” see in 13.6 the verb that Revised Standard Version translates “dealt bountifully” (Good News Translation “been good”). Here it has the same general meaning of “do good to” or “be good to.” The LORD rewarded me may be rendered idiomatically in some languages; for example, “The LORD looks at me for good” or “The LORD puts good on my head.”
For righteousness see comments on “of my right” in 4.1. Here the word describes the psalmist as a person who is careful always to act and speak in conformance to the Law of Moses, the Torah. A “righteous” person, in this context, is above everything else one who obeys God in all things, as verse 21 makes abundantly clear. According to my righteousness may be rendered, for example, “because I do what God requires,” “because I obey God,” or idiomatically “because I follow carefully on God’s road.”
Cleanness of my hands: clean hands are a sign of innocence (see 24.4; 26.6), as Good News Translation explicitly states.
The verb translated recompensed is “to turn” (see 6.4) in the causative form, “he causes to turn,” meaning to requite, to repay (here in a good sense).
The ways of the LORD: the ways in which Yahweh wants his people to walk, their behavior, conduct as required by the Law. So Good News Translation “the law of the LORD”; Bible en français courant “the precepts of the Lord.”
The verbal phrase (I) have not wickedly departed from translates “I have not been wrong from,” meaning to do wrong by turning away from God. So the translation can be “I have not committed the sin of turning away from God.” New International Version “I have not done evil by turning from my God” could be understood to mean that in turning away from God the psalmist had not done evil. Departed from my God is sometimes rendered “I have not left God’s road” or “I have not shown my back to God.” My God may have to be recast as “the God whom I worship” or “the God whom I obey.”
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 .