Verse 12 has a chiastic arrangement in Hebrew in which line a ends with “he remembers” and line b begins with “he does not forget.” The second line emphasizes God’s remembering, and remembering who is to be avenged is the task of the “seeker of bloods” (see next paragraph). Therefore line b, he does not forget, emphasizes the content of both verb and subject in line a. Good News Translation has kept all the elements of the parallelism but has switched their order.

Yahweh is referred to in the Hebrew as “the seeker of bloods” (Revised Standard Version and New International Version literal rendition he who avenges blood is not normal English; see also New English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible). The expression defines the person whose duty it was to seek out a murderer and kill him; usually this person was a close relative of the dead person. So Good News Translation “he punishes those who wrong them,” and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “he punishes those who treat them violently.” This better brings out the meaning of “blood”; or else, “those who brutally mistreat them” or even “who kill them.” Yahweh, as the God of his people, wreaks vengeance on their enemies (Gen 9.5-6; Ezek 33.6; see in 2 Chr 24.22 the dying prayer of the murdered Zechariah).

Is mindful of and does not forget express God’s constant concern and care. Forget the cry of the afflicted is somewhat ambiguous in Revised Standard Version and in the Good News Translation form, as it may imply merely forgetting what their cry sounds like. In order to avoid this kind of wrong meaning, it is sometimes necessary to render the meaning as a positive expression, “he always pays attention to their cry,” “he knows when the afflicted cry out,” or “he listens to the cry of the afflicted.”

The afflicted translates a term often used in Psalms for those who are poor, persecuted, exploited, and in particular the pious Israelites who, oppressed by their fellow human beings, had only Yahweh as their source of hope and security. In some instances the word will be translated “the humble,” with emphasis on their submissive reliance on God. It is often necessary to specify who or what causes people to be afflicted, or to “suffer”; for example, “those who suffer from evil people” or “those whom evil people oppress.”

For greater ease of understanding, Good News Translation has restructured the material in this verse; in Revised Standard Version them in line a does not refer to something previously mentioned, but refers forward to the afflicted in line b. The advantage of the reordering in Good News Translation is evident. “Remembers” in line a is parallel to “not forget” in line b, and “those who suffer” is parallel to “their cry,” while the resulting strong action of punishing is kept for the final line.

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 .