In verse 1 Yahweh is spoken of in the third person in line a and addressed in the second person in line b; for consistency Good News Translation uses the second person in both lines.

The psalmist begins on a note of joy; it is good (that is, either enjoyable or right) to praise Yahweh. Instead of the impersonal form of the declaration (It is good to give thanks), a personal form may be better: “It is good (or, right) for people (or, me) to give thanks….” In languages which require an explicit object for giving thanks, it may be possible to say “… I give you thanks for the good things you have done.”

In verse 1b to thy name means “in honor of you” (see 5.11); for Most High see 7.17. The two verbs give thanks and sing are the same ones used in 7.17a-b. The occasion for such joyful praise was probably the daily services or the annual festivals in the Temple. The expression sing praises to thy name may also be rendered “sing praise to you” or “sing and say that you are great.”

For steadfast love in verse 2a, see 5.7, and for faithfulness in verse 2b, see 36.5. In some languages steadfast love and faithfulness require an object such as “declare every morning that you always love us, and every night that you are faithful to us.”

It is not entirely clear in verse 3 whether two or three instruments are named; in verse 3a the Hebrew is “upon a ten (-stringed instrument) and upon a harp,” which Revised Standard Version translates as the lute and the harp. It is probable, however, that the meaning is “a ten-stringed harp” (New Jerusalem Bible; see New American Bible, New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version); see the terms in 33.2. In verse 3b melody translates the word that is used in the sense of “meditation” in 19.14 and appears as a musical term in 9.16. New Jerusalem Bible translates it here as vocal music, “with voice and lyre together”; most take it to refer to the instrument’s sound. Verse 3 shows the manner in which verse 2 is to be performed, and in some languages it will be necessary to switch the position of the two verses, placing verse 3 before verse 2.

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 .