The psalmist resists the temptation to argue as the wicked do, who say that God has no knowledge of or interest in human affairs (verse 11). Had he so spoken or thought, he would have been guilty of betraying God’s people (literally “I would have betrayed the generation of your sons”). The first line of verse 11 can use a direct quote, as Traduction œcuménique de la Bible does: “If I had said, ‘I will reason as they do,’…”; and line b can be translated “I would have not been true to your people” or “I would have been unfaithful to your people.” This expresses his conviction that, if he had indulged in such a blasphemous statement, he would have been a traitor to his people, which indicates that he would be sinning not only against God but against his people as well. The phrase “your sons” is translated “your disciples” by New Jerusalem Bible; Bible en français courant “your sons, my companions.” New English Bible is quite good, “the family of God.” It seems better to say “your people” or “the people of God” than to use the word “children” or “sons,” which may be misunderstood. Since verse 15 refers to the content of verse 11, readers in some languages may find the referent already too far removed. Something of verse 11 must therefore be reintroduced to build in a bit of redundancy; for example, “If I had said that God can’t know things…,” or as in direct address, “If I had said, ‘God, you have no knowledge of things….’ ” “The people of God” must often be rendered, not as a possessive, but as a verb phrase; for example, “The people who worship you.”

The psalmist remained true to Israel’s belief in the rule of God in human affairs and tried to think the matter through, even though it seemed to him to be a wearisome task (New Jerusalem Bible “a hopeless task”). He went into the Temple (the sanctuary of God verse 17a), and there he was given an insight into the fate that awaits the wicked (literally their end).

How this insight came to him is not said; the language suggests a special revelation from God, either in a vision or through the inspired word of a priest. Perhaps some ritual was involved.

“Your Temple” translates the Hebrew plural “the holy places of God,” which Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests “may designate the one sanctuary in all its manifold parts.” Most take this to refer to the Jerusalem Temple; New Jerusalem Bible translates “the sanctuaries of the gods,” which in footnote is explained as the ruins of pagan sanctuaries; Dahood and New American Bible take it to refer to heaven, to which the psalmist was transported in spirit, in a vision or a trance. It seems best to take it to mean the Temple in Jerusalem.

Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation indicate the temporal clause as until I went into, which marks the resolution of the psalmist’s failure to understand. In some languages it may be necessary to begin a new sentence in 17a and to render this phrase as a means; for example, “Only by going into your Temple did I understand…” or “The only way I understood was by going into your Temple.”

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 .