The psalmist describes how God punishes (Revised Standard Version) or will punish (Good News Translation) the wicked. A translator should feel free to use either the present or the future tense, whichever seems to make better sense. Dahood takes the four nouns in the Hebrew text of verses 18-19 to be titles for Sheol, the world of the dead: “Perdition … Desolation … Devastation … Terrors.” For slippery places in verse 18a, see similar language in 35.6. Fall to ruin and Good News Translation‘s “fall to destruction” must often be recast as simply “to fall” or, in some languages, “to be brought to death.” Bible en français courant has “you cause them to fall into a trap.”

How they are destroyed in a moment: verse 19 is nearly a repetition of verse 18; the only difference is that the rapidity of the destruction of the wicked is emphasized in verse 19. It is probable that in verse 19b the terrors are the terrors of death, that is, “terrible Death” or “Death, the terrible One.”

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 .