The psalm begins with a basic statement of faith, which starts with a strong declaration, Truly, “indeed.” In the first line of verse 1 Revised Standard Version, instead of translating the Masoretic text “to Israel,” divides the Hebrew text so as to get the phrase to the upright, in parallel with the pure in heart in the next line (similarly New English Bible, New American Bible). This produces a more satisfying parallelism but is not necessary.1-3 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project sees Revised Standard Version and New American Bible as pure conjecture and therefore not to be included in their considerations. The translator will note that Good News Translation‘s “Israel” and “pure hearts” are not to be taken as parallel and synonymous. The basis for the parallelism is God is good, which is elliptical in line b. “Israel” must often be rendered as “the people of Israel.”
To be pure in heart is not only to be free of hidden sins, but to be faithful in one’s devotion to God’s Law; it is to be single-minded in one’s loyalty to him. Pure in heart is sometimes rendered “with a white heart” or “with a full heart.” When using such figurative expressions with the sense of “faithful devotion,” it may be more accurate to say (as in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) “who listen to God with their whole heart” or, as in some languages, “who follow God’s way with one heart” or “who walk on God’s road with one mouth.”
The identity of the speaker in verse 2 may not always be clear to the reader, since the opening statement concerning God’s goodness is not attributed to anyone. Therefore in some languages it may be clearer to the reader to open line a of verse 1 by “I say that God is really good to Israel.”
In verse 2 the psalmist speaks of his own experience, how his feet had almost stumbled, his steps had well nigh slipped. This had happened because of his doubts about God’s justice and goodness. Good News Translation abandons the metaphors and represents the meaning in terms of losing “confidence” and “faith.” Most translations retain the metaphors; a translator should be sure that they will not be misunderstood by the readers. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates “A little more, and I would have fallen; my feet almost slipped.”
The psalmist’s doubts had been caused by his jealousy of the arrogant, as he noticed the prosperity of the wicked, literally, “the shalom of the wicked” (here, as in 72.3, the word means “success, prosperity”). The arrogant are those who believe they have no need to obey God’s laws. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation imply that two different groups are being referred to in verse 30, “the proud” and “the wicked”; but this is a matter of poetic parallelism, and a better translation would be (following Good News Translation structure) “for I saw that the wicked prosper, and I became jealous of those proud people.”
The logical sequence of verses 2 and 3 may cause problems in some languages and thus require shifting, so that the order will then be verse 3 (line b first cause, line a second cause), verse 2 lines a and b result; for example, “When I saw that things go well for the wicked, I was jealous of those proud people; therefore I had nearly lost confidence, and my faith was almost gone.”
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 .