The psalm ends with a brief statement of the psalmist’s faith. Verse 27 begins For lo, which indicates the psalmist is about to finish his meditation. Something like “I am certain that” or “I know for sure that” can make this clear. The psalmist knows that the wicked shall perish (will be destroyed), the righteous will enjoy God’s presence and protection. The fate of the wicked is not simply death; it is destruction (as in 18.40) at the hands of God.

Are far from (Good News Translation “abandon”) translates the verb “be far away” (see 22.1 and comments), and are false (“unfaithful”) is the word used of women guilty of infidelity or of prostitution; so King James Version “those that go a whoring from thee” (see similar use of the verb in 106.39b). Who are false to thee as Good News Translation‘s “unfaithful” may be rendered in some languages “who do not put their heart on you” or “who do not follow your way.”

Perish in reference to people is somewhat euphemistic and literary in English and suggests death, but with the focus on the violent or destructive manner of death (see comments on the same Hebrew verb, “destroyed,” in 18.40). In some languages it will be necessary to introduce God as the agent of destruction and say, for example, “God will destroy them,” or negatively, “God will not allow them to live.”

Good News Translation makes all three lines of verse 28 coordinate, “to be near … to find … to proclaim,” whereas Revised Standard Version and some more recent versions make the second line the means of the final line, “so that I may tell….” Refuge is the same word used in 14.6. Made the Lord GOD my refuge must often be recast, not as in Good News Translation, where “protection” is a noun, but rather, for example, “the Lord GOD has protected me.”

Lord GOD translates the combination of the title “lord” and the name “Yahweh” (as in 71.16).

In the last line of verse 28, Good News Translation uses the third person, “all that he has done,” for consistency with the first two lines; Hebrew is all thy works.

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 .