The Hebrew particle translated For in Revised Standard Version does not necessarily introduce a reason clause, but rather adds an extra beat to the line. Good News Translation has correctly omitted it.

Without cause in lines a and b means that the psalmist’s enemies had no valid reason for trying to harm him; he had done nothing against them.

For the figures net and pit, see discussion of both 7.15 and 9.15. As the Revised Standard Version footnote notes, the word pit in verse 7b is in line a in the Masoretic text, which is literally “they hid a pit for me their net.”7-8 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project claims that the whole verse may be interpreted as “(for in vain they have hidden for me) the pit of their trap (in vain they have dug [it] for my life).” It is hard to figure out what this is supposed to mean, but presumably it intends to say “In vain they have dug a hidden pit in which they want to trap me; in vain they have tried to capture me.” In verse 7b “for my nefesh” (Revised Standard Version for my life) means the same as for me in line a.

Verse 8 may be understood as a statement (Weiser, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem) or as a wish (Revised Standard Version, An American Translation, New International Version, New English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, and others). It is probably better to take it as a wish, a prayer. In the expression Let ruin come, ruin and Good News Translation‘s “destruction” are spoken of as independent agents performing events, something which is unnatural for a large number of languages. In these languages one may sometimes say, for example, “Before they know it they will be destroyed.” If it is necessary to use the active voice, the logical agent expressed before and after this verse is the LORD. Therefore one may sometimes say “The LORD will catch them and destroy them.” For the preferred form of a prayer or request to God, one may say “Catch them and destroy them…” or “Catch them in their own trap.” Unawares in verse 8a means “by surprise,” or else “an unforeseen disaster.”

In verse 8b the net which they hid is the net the psalmist’s enemies laid out in a hidden place in order to catch the psalmist.

In verse 8c the Masoretic text is “in ruin they fall in it” (“ruin” being the same word as “ruin” in verse 8a), whereas one expects here “pit” into which they fall, parallel with the net in which they are caught in line b. Instead of “in ruin” Syriac has “which they dug.” New American Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, follow the Syriac text, while Dahood takes the Masoretic text “in ruin” to mean “the pit” (see Holladay). Others, however, such as Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible (“may they fall into this ruin”) and others (such as “May they fall into it [the net] and be destroyed”), New International Version (“may they fall into the pit, to their ruin”), and New Jerusalem Bible (“let them fall into it when disaster [strikes]”) stay with the Masoretic text.7-8 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project takes the Masoretic text to mean “in a ruin” and proposes the following: “may he unexpectedly tumble and may his trap which he has hidden catch him; when he tumbles, may he fall down in it” (or “fall down in a ruin”). Either is possible, and the Masoretic text, though a bit strange, can be followed. For the idea expressed in verse 8b-c, see 7.15-16; 9.15 and comments.

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 .