The psalmist’s reference to Yahweh’s anger is caused by the fact that sickness was considered to be punishment for sin, and so was considered proof that Yahweh was angry with him. But the psalmist contrasts the LORD’s short-lived anger (for a moment) with his permanent favor (for a lifetime).
In some languages anger is expressed metaphorically as “heat,” “blood,” or “redness of the eyes.” One may sometimes say “the redness of God’s eyes lasts only for a little while” or “God’s heat against people goes away after a moment.”
The word favor means an attitude of goodwill, of approval, of readiness to bless.
Dahood takes the Hebrew word for lifetime to mean “eternal life.” New English Bible, however, takes the words to mean “In his anger is disquiet, in his favour there is life.” And New Jerusalem Bible translates line b “and where He is pleased there is life.”
His favor is for a lifetime may sometimes be translated, for example, “God’s good heart shows itself to a person for a whole lifetime” or “God will make a person see his clean liver for as long as that person lives.”
In the second part of the verse the psalmist contrasts spending a night crying and the happiness that comes in the morning.
In some languages it will be necessary to indicate the person who is weeping, since “tears” and “joy” are the results of someone’s feelings. It appears from the context, particularly verses 2 and 8, that it is the psalmist who cries in the night. Therefore one may say, for example, “although I cry in the night, I will be glad in the morning.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy uses the plural, “If we cry throughout the night, in the morning we shall have joy.”
In line c the verb translated tarry means literally “to spend the night.”
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 .