The psalmist now speaks of the Hebrews settling in Canaan and gives a summary of the history of the people’s repeated infidelities against their God.

He repeats the language already used: they rebelled (verses 17, 40a), “put him to the tests” (verses 18a, 41a). For Most High God see verse 35; for testimonies see verse 5a. If the translator has followed Good News Translation and ended verse 55 with two pronominal references, it will often be clearer to begin verse 56 by avoiding the pronoun and saying “But the people of Israel rebelled.”

In verse 57a Good News Translation “were rebellious” translates the verb “turn away” (see the passive use, “turned back,” in 35.4); and acted treacherously means they “were … disloyal” (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation; New Jerusalem Bible “treacherous,” New International Version “faithless”; see comments on “untrue” in 73.15b).

Verse 57b is not easy to understand; the Hebrew seems to say “they changed like a loose bow” (see the same language in Hos 7.16). The Hebrew adjective may mean “deceitful” (see “deceit” and comments in 32.2b) or “slack, loose.” The idea seems to be of a defective, unreliable bow, either because the bowstring isn’t tight or for some other reason; and so it could not shoot an arrow accurately. Good News Translation has changed the figure to “a crooked arrow” as being more easily understood by most of its readers; other translations may find bow more natural. New Jerusalem Bible has “like a faulty bow”; Dahood and New American Bible have “they recoiled like a treacherous bow” (see also New Jerusalem Bible “a treacherous bow”). Anderson suggests “they were perverse like a slack bow,” and Bible en français courant translates “like a bow with a slack cord.” If bow is to be kept, something like “unreliable” or “defective” is more natural. New International Version does it well: “as unreliable as a faulty bow.” In languages where the bow is not known, another weapon may be substituted. If that solution is unsatisfactory, it will be best to drop the simile and say, for example, “they were unreliable” or “God could not depend upon them.”

In verse 58 high places refers to pagan shrines, which were usually located on elevated places such as mounds or hills. These were the places of worship of the native Canaanites and which the Hebrews adopted, along with their idols, which were graven (or carved) images of the fertility god Baal and the goddess Astarte. In verse 58 the verb provoked … to anger (“angered,” Good News Translation) translates “to vex, irritate” (see 106.29) and moved him to jealousy (“made him furious”) is the causative of the verb “be jealous” (see comments on “envious” in 37.1; 73.3). This attribute of God is used quite often and quite naturally in the Old Testament of Yahweh’s reaction to his people’s idolatry. See Exodus 20.5, Good News Translation “I tolerate no rivals.” It is an expression of God’s exclusive rights to his people’s devotion and loyalty. The current idea of jealousy is a bit narrow, and its application to God may carry some wrong connotations. If the translator follows the Good News Translation handling of the two Hebrew terms rendered “angered him” and “made him furious,” the parallelism of the two halves becomes very closely equivalent and in that case may have to be reduced to one; for example, “they made God terribly angry with their heathen places of worship and their idols” or “the false gods they worshiped and their worship places caused God to be very angry.”

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 .