The main theme that runs through this strophe (letter zayin, verses 49-56) is the psalmist’s persecution from his enemies, people who do not obey Yahweh’s laws, and the psalmist’s confidence that his faithfulness to the Law will save him from them. A suggested adaptation of the Good News Translation heading here is “The psalmist has confidence in the Law of the LORD,” or idiomatically, “The psalmist rests his heart on the LORD’s Law.”

The strophe opens with the prayer that God will Remember his word (that is, his “promise”) to the psalmist; it was through that promise that God had given him hope. The statement in verse 49b, in which thou hast made me hope, should not be taken to mean that Yahweh had forced the psalmist to hope in Yahweh’s promise; it is a way of saying that Yahweh’s promise to the psalmist had given him hope (see New International Version “for you have given me hope”; New Jerusalem Bible “through which You have given me hope”; New Jerusalem Bible “on which I have built my hope”). Remember thy word may be rendered sometimes negatively: “Do not forget what you said you would do.”

The same thought is expressed differently in verse 50. The psalmist’s affliction was caused by his enemies; but he did not despair, because God’s promise was a source of life to him (see similar language in verse 37b). New Jerusalem Bible has “that Your promise has preserved me.” In languages which will not use the passive here, it may be necessary to say, for example, “When I was suffering, you comforted me.” The relation between lines a and b is stated differently by Revised Standard Version that (which gives the content of the psalmist’s comfort) and Good News Translation “because” (which gives the reason for the psalmist’s comfort). Should the translator wish to follow Revised Standard Version here, something like the following can be said: “When I am in trouble, I take comfort from the fact (or, knowledge) that your promise gives me life (or, keeps me alive).” Line b may sometimes be rendered “because what you told me you would do enabled me to 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 .