The first two words in the Masoretic text of verse 9 are “destroy, Adonay,” followed by “confuse their tongue.” There are several ways in which the text is handled. (l) Some, like New Jerusalem Bible, connect the first two words with verse 8 and, by placing different vowels with the same Hebrew consonants, get something like “and from the destructive tempest, Lord”; (2) Revised Standard Version follows the Targum by adding their plans as the object of the verb Destroy (similarly Bible en français courant); (3) some would take the implied object of the verb “destroy” to be “my enemies” (so Biblia Dios Habla Hoy); (4) others, like Good News Translation, take the two verbs as synonymous, with “their tongue” as the object of both (see Anderson).

The first verb in verse 9, “swallow” or Destroy, can mean also “Confuse” (Good News Translation), and the second one means “divide.” New Jerusalem Bible translates both verbs “confound their speech, confuse it.” In English the two verbs are so close in meaning that it may be better to use only one verb, as Good News Translation does. It is recommended that either New Jerusalem Bible or Good News Translation be followed. There seems to be a reference to the story about the Tower of Babel, where God scattered the people by “confusing” their speech (Gen 11.7, 9). Good News Translation has taken the two verbs to be synonymous; New Jerusalem Bible has “confound their speech, confuse it!”; New International Version has “Confuse the wicked … confound their speech”; Dahood uses other vowels with the consonants of the second verb to get an adjective (instead of the imperative of the verb) and translates “Destroy, O LORD, their forked tongue.”9-11 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says the first verb means “cut up, tear up, break, undo,” and the second verb means “divide”; the translation proposed is “Undo, O LORD, divide their tongue.” If the translator follows Good News Translation, the expression “Confuse the speech” may sometimes be rendered “make their tongues thick” or “twist their mouths.”

The psalmist describes the conditions that prevail in the city (verses 9b-11); this may be Jerusalem, or his home town (unknown), or a generic singular for “cities.” The city is full of violence, strife, mischief, trouble, and ruin. In verse 10a the violence and strife of verse 9b are said to be like the guards that patrol the city’s walls; instead of protecting, of course, they endanger and harm the city and its inhabitants. If the translator follows Good News Translation “violence and riots,” these will in some languages require being cast as verb phrases; for example, “I see people committing violent deeds and rioting in the city.”

If the translator follows the Hebrew expression go around it on its walls in verse 10a, in some languages it will be necessary to say, for example, “go around the top of the wall that surrounds the city.” If the knowledge of walled cities is too limited, or if it is impossible to retain the figure, it will be better to follow the model of Good News Translation.

In verse 11a ruin (Good News Translation “destruction”) refers not to the physical destruction or ruin of the city but to violent, lawless people who cause ruin or destruction.

In verse 11b the terms oppression and fraud in some languages may be translated as “they take advantage of people through their power and deceive them.” Market place can be taken to mean the court, the place where trials were held, so that the meaning would be that justice was being corrupted; or else, as Good News Translation has taken it, it is a synonym for “the streets” of the city (also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), in particular the commercial establishments, where oppression and fraud are being practiced by the merchants. New English Bible has “the public square”; New Jerusalem Bible “the square.” In some languages it is possible to speak of the market place as the “town square” or “the place where the men meet and discuss matters.”

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 .