In verse 10a the two verbs are practically synonymous; both mean “to discipline, admonish, rebuke, reprove” and occur in parallel lines in 6.1a-b; 38.1a-b (see also 39.11). The argument is as follows: the people whom the psalmist is accusing admit that Yahweh rebukes the pagan nations (the Hebrew term used in 2.1); will he not surely punish others as well, including the Israelite leaders themselves? So Good News Translation “punish them” (also An American Translation, New English Bible) is inadequate, since “them” here may be taken to refer to “the nations” in the same line, when it should refer to the wicked Israelite leaders (see Good News Translation footnote). In the context it may be better to translate “He rebukes the nations–won’t he punish our wicked leaders?” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “He who disciplines all people, should he not also surely be able to punish you?”

The next line (verse 10b) is in Hebrew simply “he who teaches people knowledge.” An American Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, and New American Bible connect it with the preceding line as a further description of God (“He who instructs man in knowledge”); Revised Standard Version, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible connect it with the following line. But others, like Good News Translation, assume that there is an ellipsis of “hasn’t he any knowledge?” (parallel with verses 9a-b, 10a) and so translate the line as a complete rhetorical question (so Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, and Dahood). Translators may wish to do the same.

The thought of verse 11 finds a parallel in 39.5c; here the psalmist is talking about human thoughts, human reasoning. Most translations take they are but a breath (hebel; see 78.33) to refer to thoughts, despite the fact that in Hebrew “thoughts” is feminine and the pronoun “they” is masculine. But the context seems to require that it is human reasoning which God considers to be “vapid” (Dahood), “futile” (New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version); it is not likely that here the focus is on human mortality. If the translator interprets line b to refer to human thoughts, in some languages a simile can be used to denote their insubstantial existence; for example, “he knows their thoughts are like smoke that vanishes” or “… like clouds that pass by.”

Verse 11 is quoted in 1 Corinthians 3.20 as it appears in the Septuagint, except that instead of “people” in the psalm, the word “the wise (people)” is used by Paul.

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 .