For bless see “blessing” in 3.8.

Here the righteous (one, singular) is a collective term for all who obey Yahweh’s commandments. For this reason Good News Translation translates with a plural phrase, “those who obey you.”

The parallelism of verse 12 suggests a movement from the general statement of blessing in line a to the more picturable covering of someone with a shield in line b. The idea may be rendered in English as “You bless those who obey you, LORD; you go so far as to shield them from their enemies” or “… what is more, you protect them from those who would hurt them.”

The LORD’s “love” (Good News Translation) or favor translates a word meaning “kindness.”

In languages where it is unnatural to speak of love protecting someone, it is necessary to recast this to make God the actor, and express love or kindness as the manner in which God protects; for example, “you lovingly protect them like a shield” or “you love them, and so you protect them like a shield.” As with a shield is elliptical and in some languages requires completing; for example, “you protect them like a shield protects a warrior.”

The word for shield here is different from the one used in 3.3; here it is a large shield used to protect the whole body.

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 .