Verses 23-25 refer to Yahweh’s constant care for his people. It is not certain if in our low estate (Bible en français courant “in our misfortune,” New English Bible “when we were cast down,” New Jerusalem Bible “when we were humbled”) refers to a particular event; if so, it is probably the exile in Babylonia (see Taylor, Anderson). The Hebrew word means “low place, humiliation”; it occurs elsewhere only in Ecclesiastes 10.6. If the translator follows the Good News Translation model, it may be necessary to avoid the passive and say, for example, “… when our enemies defeated us.”

In verse 24 the verb translated rescued occurs elsewhere in Psalms only in 7.2b.

In verse 25 all flesh is taken by Good News Translation to mean “every living creature,” humans and animals alike (see 104.27-28); it can be taken to mean “all human beings.” All flesh or Good News Translation‘s “every living creature” may have to be recast in some languages as “people and animals,” “everything that eats,” or “all living creatures.”

The psalm concludes, as it begins, with a call to give thanks to Yahweh. Only here in Psalms is he called the God of heaven, by which is meant “the God who lives in heaven” or “the God who rules from heaven”; see its use in Ezra 1.2; Nehemiah 1.4; and Jonah 1.9.

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 .