This verse sums up the purpose of the entire psalm. The relation between the two parallel lines is that of consequence. David calls upon Yahweh, and as a result he is saved from my enemies. If the translator wishes to help the reader understand the function of the verse in the poem as a whole, it will be necessary to consider carefully how this can be done in terms of the receptor language. This may be done by putting the final line first; for example, “Praise the LORD! I call out, and so he saves me from my enemies.”
I call upon the LORD should not be rendered by a term that means to shout at someone. Also in many languages it is necessary to indicate the purpose of the calling; for example, “I call to the LORD for help” or “I call to the LORD, ‘Help me!’ ”
Who is worthy to be praised: these six words in English translate a single word in the Hebrew, which is the first word in the verse and is a passive participle of the verb “to praise.” Good News Translation translates it as “Praise the LORD!” and places it at the end of the verse. Its relation to what follows in the Hebrew is not quite clear, and changes in the text have been proposed. But New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and others take it as Revised Standard Version has, who is worthy to be praised or “who should be praised,” which may be rendered “people [or, everybody] should praise him.” New American Bible has “ ‘Praised be the LORD,’ I exclaim.” Some commentators connect it with the preceding word (the last word in verse 3), “my stronghold, worthy of praise,” but this clearly is not the division found in the Masoretic Text.
Worthy to be praised must often be recast as an active construction, and in this context it may be necessary to shift the subject to the first person; for example, “I praise the LORD” or “I say the LORD is good.”
In translating the conjunction and, which joins the “calling” and the “saving” in this verse, translators should be careful to avoid the impression that the writer is speaking of two unconnected events. Revised English Bible uses the transition word “then.” Another way of showing the relationship more clearly is that of Bible en français courant, “as soon as I call on him [the LORD] for help, I am delivered from my enemies.”
I am saved: this verb is found frequently in Scripture and means “to rescue, save, deliver from illness, physical danger, enemies, or death”—anything that threatens the well-being or life of the person using the term. In translation it is often necessary to make explicit the condition from which the person is being rescued or saved. In this context it is clearly from my enemies. In those languages where the passive form is not possible or advisable, it will be reasonable to say “you save me from my enemies” or “he saves me from my enemies,” depending on whether second or third person pronouns are being used.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .