Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant, and others (Kirkpatrick, Dahood, Anderson) take these two verses to be Yahweh’s words to the psalmist; this assumes that the singular “you” in verse 8 is the psalmist being addressed by Yahweh. And in verse 9a, instead of the Masoretic text plural “you,” the singular “you” in two Hebrew manuscripts is preferred. Others, however (Briggs, Oesterley, Taylor, Weiser), take the verses to be the psalmist’s instructions to his fellow worshipers; in this case the singular “you” in verse 8 is taken to be generic, and the Masoretic text plural “you” in verse 9 is preferred. The statement my eye upon you in verse 8 seems to favor Yahweh as the speaker.

Three verbs are used in verse 8: instruct … teach … counsel. In languages which do not have more than one word for teaching, it is sometimes possible to say, for example, “I will show you the way you should go; I will teach you and tell you how to do.”

The Hebrew “(with) my eye upon you” carries the idea of concern and care, not of a veiled threat, as the English phrase might be understood. The expression with my eye upon you may sometimes be rendered “taking care of you” or “watching out for your safety.”

Verse 8 is a case of stairstep parallelism. Each succeeding line adds something to the first. Furthermore, the verse can be analyzed as a tricolon, that is, having three lines: I will instruct you / and teach you the way you should go / I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

The last two lines of verse 9 are filled with difficulties, since there is much controversy over the precise form and meaning of the separate words; but the meaning of the whole seems to be that given by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. The last line is translated by Dahood “Then you can approach him”; New English Bible transposes the words to the end of verse 7 and translates “beyond all reach of harm”; New Jerusalem Bible takes the words to be a warning to the hearer: “far be it from you!”; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “and no harm will reach you”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “or else they will not come to you”; similarly “so that they may not attack you.” Any one of these (except, perhaps, New English Bible) can be defended as a valid translation of the text. The translator faces a great deal of choice in this verse. If Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version are followed, readers may be surprised to learn that a horse or mule might be thought of as stupid. On the basis of the Hebrew expression, there is reason to say, for example, “Don’t be like a horse or mule; they do not know which way to go without a bit and bridle.” In some areas the horse is largely unknown and the mule is totally unfamiliar. In such cases the usual thing is to identify these animals through a borrowed word from a major language, and if necessary, to use a classifier; for example, “an animal called horse.” The bit is that part of the bridle which is inserted in the animal’s mouth. Where bit and bridle are unknown, it is best to use a short descriptive phrase (a borrowed word may be too technical). Bridle is sometimes called “animal guiding rope,” and a bit is sometimes referred to as “guide thing in the mouth.” If more information is required, a note or illustration should be provided.

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 .