From inside the Temple the priests pronounce a blessing on the king, who enters in the name of the LORD. Here in the name of the LORD may mean “as the LORD’s representative,” but it probably means, as in verses 10-12, “by the power of the LORD.” In verse 26b you is plural, not singular, and indicates that the blessing is for the whole group that is entering the Temple. Some take “in the name of Yahweh” to go with Blessed be he, and not with the verb enters; so New English Bible “Blessed in the name of the LORD are all who come.” But the Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation understanding of the phrase seems preferable. In order to distinguish between the blessing offered to he who enters in line a and you in line b, it may be clearer to say “May God bless the king who comes…” and “We bless you people” or “We bless you (plural).”

In verse 27a he has given us light refers to the blessings of prosperity and success which God has bestowed on his people; it may explicitly refer to victory (so Anderson).

Verse 27b-c contains directions about the festival procession in the Temple, but there is some uncertainty as to the exact meaning of the Hebrew, which seems to say “Bind up the festival with branches to (or, as far as) the horns of the altar.” New Jerusalem Bible translates “bind the festal offering to the horns of the altar with cords.” But this seems rather doubtful (see Anderson), and the Good News Translation translation may be recommended as a reasonable representation of the meaning of the text. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “Begin the festival, and take boughs up to the horns of the altar”; An American Translation “Arrange the festal dance with branches, up to the horns of the altar”; New Jerusalem Bible “Link your procession, branches in hand, up to the horns of the altar,” and explains in a footnote: “Ritual of the lulab, branch of myrtle or palm, waved as the procession circled the altar.” The horns were small projections at the four corners of the altar (see Exo 27.2), which were regarded as particularly holy (see 1 Kgs 1.50). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says the Hebrew text can be taken in two different ways: “bind up the feast victim(s) with ropes as far as the horns of the altar”; or, “line up the feast with ropes at the horns of the altar,” meaning that the worshipers were enclosed within ropes to set them off as a holy people (see Weiser). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project follows New Jerusalem Bible in translating “ropes” instead of “branches (or, boughs).”

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 .