In these verses the psalmist relates how Yahweh saved him; they are similar to 56.13. Good News Translation uses the third person of address in verse 8 in order to keep it consistent with verse 9. No particular significance in terms of intensity or logic seems intended in the sequence death … tears … stumbling. In Hebrew the one verb “save, deliver” (see 6.4a) in line a governs the three objects in lines a, b, c, soul … eyes … feet. The noun translated stumbling in line c occurs elsewhere in the Old Testament only in 56.13. Here, as there, it may mean death (so Bible en français courant “the fatal slip”). Bible de Jérusalem and New Jerusalem Bible consider “my nefesh from death” in line a to be a later addition; New English Bible, on the basis of the Syriac, omits “my eyes from tears,” but there is no good reason to depart from the Masoretic text (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). Biblia Dios Habla Hoy expresses lines a through c as two additional reasons to verse 7b for the statement in verse 7a; that is, “because he has freed me from death, because he has freed me from crying and falling,” a structure which other translators may wish to consider.

In verse 9 to walk before the LORD means to live one’s life conscious of his will, “to live obediently before Yahweh” (Anderson). So Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “I will be obedient to the Lord.” Bible en français courant has “I will walk under the Lord’s surveillance.” Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and Zürcher Bibel translate the verb as a present tense, I walk; many, however, take the verse to be a promise and translate the verb as future (New Jerusalem Bible, Dahood, An American Translation, New American Bible, New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). In many languages a literal rendering of walk before the LORD will mean nothing more than to pass on foot in front of the LORD. Accordingly this expression must be avoided in favor of one explicitly referring to “living” or “existing.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “I want to remain in the land of the living and to go on living close to you.” Land of the living is in contrast to Sheol, the land of the dead, and can be expressed in some languages as “in this world where people live.”

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 .