The first line of verse 27 is literally “Give sin (or, guilt) to their sin (or, guilt).” The noun ʿawon usually means “transgression, guilt” (see comments on “iniquity” in 51.2). It can be used in the sense of “punishment (for guilt),” which is how Revised Standard Version has interpreted it; similarly New English Bible “the punishment their sin deserves.” Weiser has “Add guilt to their guilt” (also New American Bible); this is not very satisfactory, unless understood in the sense of convicting them of even worse sins. Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and Dahood have “Charge them with crime after crime”; this is the sense represented by Good News Translation “Keep a record of all their sins,” and Bible en français courant “Make a list of all their faults,” taking the verb, literally “to give,” in the sense of adding to a list, like a bookkeeper (so Dahood).

In verse 27b “let them not come to your tsedaqah” is variously understood (see comments on “righteousness” in 5.8): Good News Translation “salvation”; Revised Standard Version acquittal; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “pardon”; Bible en français courant “approval”; New American Bible “reward”; New Jerusalem Bible “beneficence”; Bible de Jérusalem and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “justice”; and New Jerusalem Bible “saving justice.” Any one of these represents some aspect of the word, and every one of them can be defended. “Justice” is the meaning the word has in most contexts, and here it may be preferred, in the sense of “acquittal” or “pardon.” The Good News Translation expression “have any part in your salvation” is extremely difficult to translate, unless one says simply “do not save them.” Other suggestions are “do not pardon them,” “do not accept them,” or “do not show them justice.”

The figure of a heavenly book (or books), in which are listed the names of the righteous, is found in other places in the Bible; it seems obviously derived from the register of citizens in a community, and expresses the idea that God keeps a record of the names of the righteous, of those who are to be given life (or kept alive). See a similar thought in 87.6; and see also Exodus 32.32-33; Daniel 12.1.

The righteous in verse 28b are those who obey God’s laws, that is, God’s “people” (Good News Translation); see the discussion of the word at 1.5.

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 .