These verses are petitions to God to guide and direct the psalmist; he prays for guidance (verse 35), for a right attitude (verse 36), and to be kept from giving his attention to what is of no value (verse 37).
The request in verse 35a, Lead me in the path of thy commandments, is well expressed in Bible en français courant, “Make me follow the way that you order me to.” Perhaps it will be better to say “Lead me in the way indicated (or, prescribed) by your commandments,” “Help me follow the path that your laws say I should take.” As always, path is conduct, behavior, manner of life. Good News Translation‘s “Keep me obedient” may have to be shifted to a negative command; for example, “do not let me be disobedient.”
For verse 35b see the similar statement in verse 14a.
In verse 36a Incline my heart means “Make me willing to,” “Give me the desire to.” Gain in verse 36b means “profit” (used also in 30.9a); the idea of its being illegal or shameful is not necessarily implied (as New English Bible “ill-gotten gains”; also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). New Jerusalem Bible and New Jerusalem Bible have “selfish gain,” which may be better. But others have simply “profit” or “riches” (Bible de Jérusalem, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Good News Translation); Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “great wealth.”
Vanities in verse 37a means “worthless things” (New International Version), or else “falsehood” (New Jerusalem Bible; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “illusion”). But the word may refer to idols (see Good News Translation in 24.4; see also 31.6a, where the word functions as an adjective, modifying “idols”). So Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has here “Don’t let me put my faith in false gods,” and New Jerusalem Bible “Avert my eye from pointless images.”
In verse 37b the Masoretic text is give me life in thy ways; Good News Translation has followed the text of the Qumran manuscript for the verbal phrase “be good to me.” Good News Translation has followed the same manuscript, plus two other Hebrew manuscripts, for the reading “by your word” (New English Bible “by thy word”; Good News Translation “as you have promised”; see also Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible).35-37 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the Masoretic text “on your ways”; but it should be noticed that this is a “C” decision. As in verse 35, it may be necessary in some languages to say, for example, “Do not let me pay attention to….”
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 .