As indicated in the introduction, the fourth segment of the psalm is an integral part of the whole in the following way: In verse 13 the psalmist prays for God to Return to man. This responds in the hopeful prayer to verse 4, where mankind was made to “turn back” to the dust. Where mankind was like grass that withered from morning to evening in verses 5b and 6, the prayer in verse 14 is Satisfy us in the morning. In verse 9a the people’s “days pass away under thy wrath,” but now in prayerful hope they ask that they may rejoice … all our days. In fact, the only temporal terms that are not repeated in the final prayer are the evening and night associated with sleep and death; however, the morning is set in contrast with them.

In this part of the psalm the people, in conventional language, ask God to change from anger to kindness, to stop punishing his people, and to give them as much happiness as the sadness he had brought them in the past.

The petition Return means “change your attitude, relent,” in anticipation of line b (see comments on “Turn” in 6.4). And for ideas on translating How long? see 79.5; 89.46. Thy servants are, as nearly always, the people of Israel. Good News Translation fails to represent formally Return in line a; the translation could be

• How much longer, LORD, will your anger last?
Relent, and have pity on us, your servants!

For steadfast love in verse 14a, see 5.7 and comments. The verb Satisfy (“fill up”; see 17.14 and comments) may not be appropriate in some languages with the object love; so some other verb, such as manifest, show, reveal, make known, may be better.

The verb for rejoice includes singing–a loud cry of joy.

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 .