Verse 5 is a direct quotation of what the psalmist’s enemies say about him; this should be made explicit, as Good News Translation does by having “they say.”
In the Masoretic text the verb in line a is in the imperative mood, “rely”; with the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Jerome the Hebrew consonants are given other vowels, and the verb becomes “he relied.” Most translators follow this text; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and New Jerusalem Bible, however, translate the Masoretic text’s imperative. The verb means “to roll” and is taken to mean “He rolled (his cause, his suffering) on the LORD.” Dahood has another derivation: “he lived for Yahweh.” Good News Translation uses direct address, “You relied on the LORD,” instead of the third person of the Hebrew text (see Revised Standard Version). In some languages this shift may be helpful, but care should be taken to make clear that in verse 9 “you” is God, to whom the psalmist speaks. He committed his cause means that the psalmist (referred to in the third person by his enemies) depended on Yahweh to take care of him. Translations vary: “trusts in” (New International Version), “trusted himself to” (New Jerusalem Bible). In some cases this must be expressed in an idiomatic manner; for example, “he hung his heart on the LORD” or “he rested on the LORD.”
Let him deliver him: this is the way in English of expressing the third person imperative (so most English translations), which translators may prefer to follow. Good News Translation use of the second person of direct address, “You,” makes it easier to use a question form, which emphasizes the elements of scorn and derision.
The two verbs deliver and rescue are synonymous, two different ways of saying the same thing. Good News Translation has also restructured the second half of the verse, making it a scornful question.
He delights in him can be understood as “Yahweh delights in the psalmist” or “the psalmist delights in Yahweh”; the former seems more likely. The meaning can be expressed by “the LORD is his friend,” or “the LORD coves (or, likes) him.”
The taunts are all the more devastating because they imply that the psalmist was lying when he claimed that he had depended on the LORD and that the LORD loved him. To the psalmist’s enemies it is clear, from the fact that the LORD has done nothing to help him, that the LORD really does not care for him. See the use of the language in Matthew 27.39, 43; Mark 15.29; Luke 23.35.
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 .