In verse 8 Good News Translation has reversed the two lines of the Hebrew verse, for better effect in English.

Seated on his holy throne, God reigns over the nations. If a specific referent for God’s holy throne (a phrase found only here in the Old Testament) is to be sought, it probably is the Covenant Box (see discussion at 18.10). In some languages holy in the expression his holy throne can be translated by the term meaning positive taboo. However, for many languages there is no term that can be used to indicate a holy object which is closely associated with God. Therefore it is often necessary to indicate the holiness of the object through its association with God; for example, “God sits on his own throne” or “God sits on the throne from which he rules.”

The princes of the peoples is a way of speaking of the kings, or rulers, of the Gentile nations.

In verse 9 the Masoretic text is “the people of the God of Abraham assemble,” which Revised Standard Version has translated as the people of the God of Abraham (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible de Jérusalem), meaning that the pagan rulers come together as though they were God’s people. Though endorsed by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, this seems rather unlikely; the Septuagint and the Syriac have “with the God of Abraham” (instead of the Masoretic text ʿam “people” they read ʿim “with”). Many commentators believe that the original Hebrew text was ʿim ʿam “with the people,” and that one of these two words was accidentally omitted by copyists (without the vowel points the text would be simply ʿm ʿm). This seems likely and is accepted by Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant, New American Bible. New English Bible emends the text to get “with the families of Abraham’s line,” that is, “with the Israelites” (see also New Jerusalem Bible “rally to the people of the God of Abraham”). The expression people of the God of Abraham may in some languages be rendered as “the people of the God whom Abraham worshiped.”

Verse 9c in Hebrew is “for to God (belong) the shields of the earth.” Many take “shields” as referring to the rulers (New International Version, Anderson; New Jerusalem Bible “the guardians of the earth”; Bible en français courant “the protectors of the earth”). New English Bible, instead of the Masoretic text “shields,” reads (with no change of consonants) “the mighty ones” (so the Septuagint). Good News Translation has interpreted the Masoretic text to mean that God’s power is greater than that of all earthly warriors; this meaning can be expressed by “all earthly power belongs to God” or “all earthly rulers are subject to God.”

For exalted see the use of the term in 46.10.

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 .