The translator should note in verses 1-3 that parallelism is used to make a series of statements. There is no heightening effect between lines, although there is some semantic sameness between parallel lines; for example, in verse 2 pit/miry bog; feet/steps; rock/secure.

In verse 1 I waited patiently translates “Waiting, I waited” (see comments on 25.3a for I waited); the Hebrew phrase that follows, “for Yahweh,” means “for Yahweh’s help.” He inclined is similar to “he inclined his ear” (see 17.6 and comments) and means “he listened, he paid attention to.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, however, “He bent down to hear my cries”–which the translator may choose to follow.

In figurative language the psalmist describes in verse 2 the danger he was in. It is probable the desolate pit and the miry bog are metaphors for Sheol, the world of the dead; either because of illness or because of some other dangerous situation, the psalmist was near death, from which Yahweh rescued him, setting his feet upon a rock and making his steps secure, that is, giving him health and safety. A similar description of deliverance from imminent death is found in 30.3. The word translated desolate (Good News Translation “dangerous”) is of uncertain meaning; in other contexts the Hebrew word means “tumult, roaring”; for its use here, however, K-B classifies it as a different word, occurring only here in the Old Testament, meaning “desolate, waste,” and defines it as a reference to Sheol. Some wish to translate “the noisy pit” believing that this is a reference to “the tumultuous waters in the underworld.” Dahood and New American Bible have “pit of destruction”; New Jerusalem Bible “seething chasm”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “deadly pit.” Desolate pit, referring to the place of the dead, may be rendered in some languages as “he pulled me up from the pit of death” or “he took me out of the pit where the dead people go.” The other expression, miry bog, is translated “deadly quicksand” by Good News Translation; New Jerusalem Bible “slimy clay”; New American Bible “the mud of the swamp.” “Quicksand” is not known in some areas; however, a deep bog or place of mud is equally applicable.

The rock (verse 2c) is a figure of safety, stability, security, as often in Psalms; my feet and my steps are parallel. Instead of “made me secure” (Good News Translation) the translation can be “and now I walk without fear.” One translation preserves the parallelism as follows: “He made me stand on a rock, he made me walk with firm steps.”

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 .