The psalmist begins his recital of God’s wonderful deeds, the mighty acts and miracles he wrought as he led the Hebrews out of Egypt.
Again in verse 12 their fathers seems, because of verse 9, to be the ancestors of the Ephraimites; but it is much more likely that this refers to the ancestors who were a faithless generation (verse 8).
The marvels in the land of Egypt (verse 12) are the plagues, described in verses 43-51.
Zoan is identified as the city of Rameses (Exo 1.11), a royal storage city on the eastern side of the Nile Delta; it was also called Tanis (the Septuagint). Zoan is not mentioned in Exodus in connection with the departure from Egypt. In some languages it will often be necessary to identify Egypt as the “country called Egypt.”
The account of the parting of the waters for the Israelites to escape safely from the Egyptians is recorded in Exodus 14.21-29. The waters stood “like walls” (see Exo 15.8); the Hebrew word for “walls” means “barrier, dam,” and the same expression is used of the crossing of the Jordan (Josh 3.13, 16). Revised Standard Version like a heap is not clear; New Jerusalem Bible “stand like a wall” and New International Version “stand firm like a wall” can be misunderstood. The picture is that of a path on the sea floor, with the waters of the Sea of Reeds (the Red Sea; see comment at 106.7) standing like walls on either side. The expression divided the sea may give a wrong understanding in many languages. Since the sense is that he separated the water in order to make a passage, it will often be better to translate “he made a path through the sea” or “he made a place for them to walk through the sea.” The second half of verse 13 may give the reader difficulty, since it is implied that the path through the sea went between the standing walls of water. In order to provide a clearer picture for the reader, it may be necessary to say, for example, “he made the water stand like walls on both sides of the path.”
Because of the strangeness of the instrumental use of a cloud as an object to lead someone, in some languages it will be clearer to say, for example, “God made a cloud go ahead of them in the daytime to guide them” or “God sent a cloud ahead of them during the day so they would know where to go.”
Line b is understood by reading the verb led from line a. It will sometimes be necessary to avoid ellipsis and to repeat the verb in the second line, or use a suitable synonym.
What is called in Exodus 13.21-22 “a pillar of fire” is here referred to as a fiery light; see New English Bible “a glowing fire,” New Jerusalem Bible “the light of a fire.”
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 .