The psalm opens with the declaration that to Yahweh alone, and not to the people of Israel, must glory, that is, praise and honor, be given. This is an exhortation for the people assembled for worship in the Temple to praise Yahweh (see New International Version). They are to do so because of his steadfast love and faithfulness, the two words that most accurately describe Yahweh’s attitude toward his people. The Hebrew says “you (Yahweh) to your name give glory,” which does not mean that Yahweh is to boast about himself or to glorify himself (so Biblia Dios Habla Hoy), but that he is to act in such a way that his people will glorify him; so New Jerusalem Bible “bring glory.” Here, as elsewhere, thy name means Yahweh himself (see comments on 5.11). In verse 1c for the sake of may be taken to mean “in order to promote (or, advance)”; it seems better to translate “because,” giving the reason why Yahweh should receive glory. Both Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version are difficult models in this verse. This is due to the contrastive expressions “you alone … not to us,” the use of the passive without a subject, and the reason held for the conclusion. For some languages an easier model to follow may be “Because you are loyal and always love us, we must honor you and you only, LORD; we must not honor ourselves.” Or else, “You are loyal and always love us; therefore….”

The question in verse 2 introduces the long response in verses 3-8, and for this reason Good News Translation (also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New English Bible) joins it to the second strophe and not to the first, as Revised Standard Version does. The Hebrew text has their God, but the question, of course, is addressed to Israel, so Good News Translation has “ask us, ‘Where is your God?’ ” This is a question not about the whereabouts of the God of Israel but about his activity. A colloquial way of phrasing the question is “What’s happened to their God?” The taunting question implies that something has happened to raise doubts about the concern and power of God (see the same question in 42.3; 79.10), but this psalm has nothing that indicates a recent calamity or defeat. Perhaps the word translated the nations would be better translated “the heathen” (see 2.1 and comments); Weiser has “the Gentiles.” In this psalm, where the people are addressing Yahweh, not each other, it will be necessary to use appropriate forms of the exclusive first-person plural pronouns.

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 .