This verse in Hebrew is not altogether clear; the sense seems to be “The wicked man in his pride never seeks, there is not God (are) all his thoughts.” But the division of phrases and lines in the Hebrew text makes this rendering debatable.

Good News Translation has restructured the various elements, placing at the beginning of line b “in his pride,” which modifies the “wicked man” of line a.

Pride (only here is the noun used in Psalms) comes from a verb meaning “to be haughty, arrogant”; see Proverbs 16.18 “a haughty spirit.” Some commentators take the phrase “in the pride of his face” to refer to God, meaning God’s anger; so Briggs, who translates verse 4 as what the wicked man thinks about God.

Does not seek him: for the verb “to seek” see 9.10. It is to be noted that there is no object expressed in the Hebrew text (Revised Standard Version supplies him). Some take the statement “he does not seek” as being part of the wicked man’s thoughts about God, meaning that he thinks “He (God) does not call to account” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). Bible en français courant has “he does not demand anything.” Applied to the wicked man himself, seek here means “to be concerned about, think about, care about.”

If the translator follows the rearrangement of Good News Translation, the expression “does not care about the LORD” may often be rendered as “the LORD is not important to him” or “pays no attention to the LORD.” If on the other hand the form of Revised Standard Version is preferred, seek him will need to be recast in order to avoid giving the impression that God has been lost. It is the relationship to God that man seeks; for example, “because they are proud, evil people do not want to have anything to do with God.”

Thoughts translates the word rendered “schemes” in verse 2.

There is no God translates the Hebrew words; but as commentators point out, this is not philosophical atheism, a denial of God’s existence, but practical atheism, a way of life which does not take God and his demands into account; so Good News Translation “God doesn’t matter.” New Jerusalem Bible footnote comments “Denying the action of Providence, he speaks and acts as if there were no God at all.” New Jerusalem Bible translates “God does not care”; New International Version “in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” See also 14.1.

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 .