Here the psalmist seems to be directing his words not to his enemies but to people who were dissatisfied with their condition, and who piously repeated the standard phrases of prayer and devotion (so Toombs). The first part of the quoted material may be understood as a prayer, a wish (Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, and others), or as a question, “Who will give us…?” (see Delitzsch, Weiser, Dahood, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).
The wish we might see some good expresses in a very general way the desire for better things: “O for good days!” (New Jerusalem Bible); “If only we might be prosperous again!” (New English Bible); Bible en français courant “O, how we would love to see prosperity!” Good News Translation makes it a direct request to God, connecting this line with the following one.
The second request, Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, is either still part of what the many are praying for (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New English Bible, Moffatt), or is the psalmist’s own prayer (so Kirkpatrick, Weiser; see An American Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, New American Bible).
The language resembles that of the priestly blessing in Numbers 6.24-26. The figure “lift up the light of your face” means to be kind, to show a friendly disposition, to bestow favor. NEB has changed the vowels of the Masoretic text’s imperative form “lift up” and made it a perfect, “has lifted up,” and has interpreted this as lifting away, removing: “But the light of thy presence has fled from us.” This is possible but does not seem very probable. The translator must decide whether a suitable figure is available in the language to render the plea for God’s favor, and then whether or not to include it with the prayer of the preceding line, as with Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version, or to make it the prayer of the psalmist, both being possible. If Lift up the light … is taken as the prayer of the psalmist, it may be necessary to indicate the shift of speaker, perhaps by placing the closing quotes after O LORD! For example, “I ask you to be kind to me, LORD.”
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 .