The psalm begins with the people reminding Yahweh of how in the past he had once changed from his anger toward them, had forgiven their sins, and had made them prosperous again. The most common interpretation is that this refers to the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian captivity; God’s anger toward them had ceased and he had saved them. Some think the reference is to the exodus from Egypt, but this seems unlikely. It is impossible to determine for sure what the present distress is; Dahood thinks the whole setting of the psalm is a devastating drought from which the people are suffering and on account of which they pray for rain. In Hebrew there is a play on the sound of the words favorable and land in line a, and restore and fortunes in line b.
The verbs in these verses are understood by most commentators as equivalent to past-time actions (either perfects or simple pasts); New Jerusalem Bible translates as futures; Bible de Jérusalem and New Jerusalem Bible translate by the present tense; Dahood takes them as imperatives. According to the interpretation favored here, the simple past tense (Revised Standard Version, New International Version) is the most suitable one; the perfect tense (New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New American Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) makes the shift to the imperative verb in verse 4 difficult, for the perfect tense implies that the effects of the past actions still continue in the present. Why, then, the plea for the LORD to change? Good News Translation attempts to meet this problem by using the perfect in verses 1-2 and the past in verse 3, but it may be better to use the simple past tense in all three verses, or else the past perfect (pluperfect), as follows: “LORD, you had been merciful … you had made … You had forgiven … You had stopped … and had held back….” Then the change in verse 4 is natural and understandable.
The verb translated wast favorable is used in 44.3, “didst delight”; see comments. Thy land in verse 1a is parallel with Jacob in verse 1b; together they refer to the land and the people of Israel. In some languages it is not natural to speak of being merciful to an inanimate object such as land, and in such cases it may be necessary to say “you have been merciful to the people of your land,” or idiomatically, “you have had a warm heart for the people who live in your land.” The phrase restore the fortunes is the same as the one in 14.7; 53.6. But one form of the Hebrew text (the qere) yields the meaning “you brought back the Israelite captives” (so Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Restore the fortunes may sometimes be rendered “you have given Israel back its wealth” or “you have made Israel rich (or, prosperous) again.”
In verse 2a forgive translates the verb “lift away, remove,” and in verse 2b pardon translates the verb “cover” (see 32.1b and comments). The two nouns iniquity and sin are the same two used in 51.2.
For Selah see 3.2.
The two lines of verse 3 are parallel and synonymous; at one time God had “stopped being angry” (Good News Translation) with his people, that is, he had quit punishing them for their sins, and so they had had a change in their condition.
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 .