For: this introduces the basis for the psalmist’s plea in the preceding verse, “Vindicate me.” It should be made explicit in translation, as Revised Standard Version has done.

For steadfast love see comment at 5.7, and for faithfulness see comment at 15.2.

The phrase before my eyes in line a may mean “I am always aware of” (see Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) or “I keep in mind.” New Jerusalem Bible has “my eyes are on Your steadfast love.”

The major problem in translating verse 3 is that steadfast love is an event rather than a quality, and therefore it must in many languages be expressed as a clause such as “you love me faithfully.” One may follow Good News Translation with some further shifting to say “you love me faithfully and you guide me.” Or, following the alternative interpretation of before my eyes, one may say “I always remember that you love me faithfully” or “I never forget your constant love for me.”

In line b the meaning of I walk in faithfulness to thee may be “I live in loyalty to you” (Good News Translation footnote, Revised Standard Version, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). But the phrase “your faithfulness” speaks of faithfulness as an attribute of God (Good News Translation), that is, his faithfulness in doing what he promises (see how the term is used in 25.10); consequently Good News Translation‘s rendering is to be preferred. Some, however, translate the Hebrew word as “truth” (New English Bible, New American Bible, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). So New Jerusalem Bible has “I live my life by your truth.” It seems better to translate the word as faithfulness rather than as “truth.”

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 .