By means of the rhetorical device of a question and an answer, the psalmist describes how God will punish his enemies. Verse 3 in Hebrew is literally “What will he give to you and what will he add to you?” This question reflects the language used in a curse: “May God do so to you, and add to you” (see Ruth 1.17; 1 Sam 3.17; 14.44; 25.22). Here the question means “How will he punish you?” New Jerusalem Bible, however, translates “What can you profit, what can you gain?” This is possible but not very probable. See Bible en français courant “What punishment will God inflict on you…?” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “How will God punish you…?”
As Revised Standard Version shows, only in line c of verse 3 are the psalmist’s enemies named, you deceitful tongue. In most cases it will be better to place this first, as Good News Translation does: “You liars….” And Revised Standard Version, by using the passive voice of the verb, translates in an impersonal sense, What shall be given … what more shall be done…? (see also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). It is preferable to take it in a personal sense, as Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and others do. As in the case of all rhetorical devices, the translator must ask what the function of the question is in this verse, and supply a structure which will serve the same purpose in the receptor language. The question form in verse 3 represents an emphatic statement whose content comes in verse 4. Accordingly in many languages a question in verse 3 will be wrongly understood. In such cases it may be better to say, for example, “You liars, God will do something awful to you; he will certainly punish you.”
The answer (verse 4) may be taken literally, but more probably sharp arrows and glowing coals are figures for harsh punishment, extreme suffering. Weiser comments: “The two metaphors … are as much as to say ‘murder and fire,’ that is, death and destruction.” The Hebrew text in verse 4a identifies the coals as being of the broom tree, which is mentioned in 1 Kings 19.4-5; Job 30.4. It is not necessary to identify the tree, unless the broom tree is well known to the readers. So Good News Translation “red-hot coals,” and New Jerusalem Bible and New English Bible “red-hot charcoal.” In many languages the punishment of sharp arrows and glowing coals will not be clear. Therefore it may be necessary to make explicit who is to be punished, either in generic or in specific terms; for example, “by shooting you with sharp arrows and burning you with hot coals.”
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 .