Yahweh regrets his people’s disobedience, but he allows them to reap the fruit of their own stubbornness (verses 11-12). Here God does not directly address the people, as he does in verses 6-10; he seems to be speaking to himself. It would be very odd if the psalmist thought of God speaking to someone else, someone not identified. If this constitutes a problem for the readers, the best thing to do is to change to the second person of direct address; for example, “So you, God, let them go their stubborn ways…,” or omit “you” and say, for example, “So God let them go their stubborn ways….”

In verse 11b the Hebrew is “Israel did not want me,” that is, would have nothing to do with me, which Good News Translation represents by “would not obey me,” parallel with “would not listen to me” in line a.

Stubborn hearts in this context is rendered idiomatically in many languages as “I let them follow their blindness,” “… their hard hearts,” or “… their closed ears.”

Follow their own counsels: instead of coming to the LORD for advice and guidance, they guide themselves and ignore 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 .