The Hebrew text may be taken to mean what the Revised Standard Version footnote has, in which “the King” refers to Yahweh; or else it may mean, as the Good News Translation footnote has it, “Give victory to the king, O LORD; he will answer us when we call,” in which “he” should refer to Yahweh but appears to refer to the king (since the third person is used, not the second); see Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “The king will answer us on the day we call to him.” Consequently Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, and others (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, New English Bible, New American Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible) follow the Septuagint, Targum, and Jerome, and express the imperative answer us, addressed to Yahweh. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (“C” decision) offers four possible interpretations of the Masoretic text without suggesting a preference: (1) “O LORD, save; may the king answer us the day we call (to him)”; (2) “O LORD, save; may the king (that is, God) answer us the day we call (to him).” And with a different division of the Hebrew phrases: (3) “O LORD, save the king; may he (the king) answer us the day we call (to him)”; (4) “O LORD, save the king; He (that is, God) will answer us the day we call (to him).”
Give victory to the king, O LORD must often be restructured as “O LORD, help the king defeat his enemies.”
Answer us must not be translated by a term meaning to give a verbal reply, but rather by a term for responding to a request. Some languages distinguish between answers that are direct or indirect, polite or impolite, evasive or frank. In the present context one can sometimes say “hear us and help us.” If the translator wishes to preserve the formal feature of “answer you” in verse 1 corresponding to answer us in this final verse, the same term should be used in both places.
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 .