The author is confident that his enemies will be defeated when he calls to God for help (verse 9). This confidence is based on his assurance that God is on his side (verse 9c). The verb in line a is translated as a passive by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation (will be turned back); it is better to take it as an active, however, as most translations do: “will turn back.” In line c, as elsewhere, the Hebrew conjunction ki may be taken as “that” (This I know, that God…) or as “because” (“I know this because God…”); see text and margin of Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version.

Verse 10 in Hebrew is similar in form and meaning to verse 4a; the statement is repeated, first with God and next with the LORD (see Revised Standard Version); Good News Translation has shortened and combined the two lines into one. If the expression whose word I praise is repeated twice, it will appear in many languages as needless repetition and so can be reduced to one as in Good News Translation. If the translator follows Good News Translation in translating word as “promises,” in some languages it will be necessary to say, for example, “I speak well of the things he promises.”

Verse 11 is an exact repetition of verse 4b-c, except that in verse 4c “flesh” is used, while here the generic term man (ʾadam) is used; the meaning is the same.

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 .