The words in verse 11 are attributed to the wicked; some, however, take the speakers to be the people who are led astray by them in verse 10 (see New Jerusalem Bible). The former seems preferable. The idea that “God will not know” what they are doing finds expression in such passages as 10.4, 11, 13. For the Most High see 7.17. The purpose of rhetorical questions at this point is to grasp afresh the reader or listener’s attention as well as to make an emphatic negative statement. Modification of the rhetorical questions in translation will depend on the function such questions have in the receptor language. They may require an explicit negation to follow, or may be recast as negative statements. In any event, if they are replaced, the attention-getting function should be replaced by an equivalent device in the receptor language. The translation can be “Surely God doesn’t know what’s happening. The Most High will not discover what we do.” It will be necessary in many languages to avoid the ambiguity of reference by making clear the source of this rhetorical question in Revised Standard Version; for example, “Evil people say….” If the meaning of the two lines is identical in the receptor language, the translator may find it necessary to reduce the two lines to one.

The psalmist’s final statement about the wicked (verse 12) sums up his pessimistic conclusion: always at ease, they increase in riches. There is nothing that disturbs their ease and well-being, and they keep on getting richer. The Hebrew adjective translated always at ease occurs only here in the Psalms; in 30.6 there is a related word, “quietness, ease,” which Revised Standard Version translates “prosperity” and Good News Translation “I felt secure.” Here the main idea is that of not having any worries, and so the following may serve as a model for translating this line: “They have no troubles, and keep on getting richer.” New Jerusalem Bible has “piling up wealth without any worries.”

These are the wicked may cause confusion for some readers, since these or Good News Translation‘s “That is what…” points to the rhetorical questions or negative statements in verse 11. The problem is compounded by the fact that line a points back to verse 11, and line b offers a further amplification on the bad behavior of those people. Therefore translators may find that it is clearer to say, for example, “That is the way evil people talk; and, in addition, they have plenty of wealth and are always getting more.”

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 .