The psalmist closes with a final plea to God. The enemies have ruined the nation, and the psalmist asks God to destroy them.

Cut it down in verse 16a is taken by most to be from a verb meaning “to cut down,” but Bible de Jérusalem and New Jerusalem Bible take the form to be “like dung”: “They have thrown it on the fire like dung.” It is better to translate cut it down. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy reverses the two verbs as being a more natural order of events: “they (who) cut it and burn it.”

Most translations take verse 16b to refer to the enemies; some, however, instead of may they perish, translate “they perish,” that is, the Israelites themselves (Weiser, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version); this, however, seems unlikely. Rebuke of thy countenance or Good News Translation‘s “look at them in anger” must be recast in some languages where the sense of judgment is not conveyed by “angry looks.” In such cases verse 16b may be rendered, for example, “look at them and judge them” or “judge them and destroy them.”

Revised Standard Version gives the form of the Hebrew text in verse 17; the man in line a is parallel with the son of man in line b. The son of man here has the meaning “the human being.” Good News Translation interprets the man and the son of man as references to the nation of Israel (so Kirkpatrick, Cohen, McCullough, Weiser, Dentan). But some (Dahood, Toombs, Anderson, Briggs) take them to refer to the king (see Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant, New Jerusalem Bible footnote); see 110.1, where the king is spoken of as at the right side of God. It is impossible to be dogmatic, and a personal reference may be intended. But the lack of mention of the king in the rest of the psalm may argue against this interpretation.

Let thy hand be upon means “Preserve and protect,” and of thy right hand means “the one you have chosen.” In the way in which Good News Translation has structured verse 17, line b does not repeat the verbs from line a. If the translator follows Good News Translation, it will be necessary in some languages to repeat the verbs from line a. It is also possible to say, for example, “Protect the people you have chosen, preserve the nation you made so strong.”

At the end of verse 17, for thyself may be the meaning intended by the Hebrew; New Jerusalem Bible, somewhat differently, translates the line “the one You have taken as Your own.” And New English Bible has “the man whom thou hast made strong for thy service.” But the Hebrew may be simply emphatic; in Good News Translation language it would be “the nation you yourself made so strong.”

Dahood takes verse 18a not as a promise but as a statement: “We have never turned away from you” (similarly An American Translation, New English Bible). It is better to take it as a statement.

Give us life is a plea for the restoration of the nation, that it may continue to exist. We will call on thy name is a promise to praise and worship God.

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 .