In this section (verses 29-35) David praises God for his goodness to him.

Yea represents a Hebrew particle that is sometimes rendered “Indeed” in more modern versions like New Revised Standard Version. It is apparently intended to focus attention on what follows. If the receptor language has a word that fulfills the same function, it may be used here. But in many languages it may be omitted altogether.

The statement thou art my lamp is a figure meaning that Yahweh is the source of life, vitality, prosperity, and health (in the parallel Psa 18.28 “thou dost light my lamp”). Lamp here is not a metaphor for wisdom or knowledge. The idea is not that God dispels the darkness of ignorance, but rather the darkness of sin, destruction, and death, and continuously gives David life and strength (as the next verse makes clear). For the same figure for the Law of Yahweh, see Psa 119.105a. The lamp in those days was a small clay bowl, filled with olive oil, with a wick floating in it, one end protruding through a spout on the side of the bowl.

Whereas Psa 18.28 refers indirectly to “the LORD” in the second half of the verse, here the divine name is used in direct address, O LORD. This is shifted forward in the Good News Translation rendering for the sake of naturalness.

My God: the same is found in New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, and Revised English Bible. But the traditional Hebrew text has “the LORD,” which is followed by a majority of versions, including New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Century Version, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible. There seems to be no reason to change the traditional reading at this point. This textual problem is not even mentioned in Hebrew Old Testament Text Project and may in fact be irrelevant in many languages because of the pronoun shift. The Hebrew (see Revised Standard Version) addresses God in the second person in line a and refers to him in the third person in line b. As is often done, Good News Translation maintains the second person of address in both lines. This will probably be a good model for most other languages.

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 .