Instead of fighting on behalf of his servant, the king of Israel, Yahweh took the side of his enemies; he made them victorious (literally “lifted high the right hand”) and made them all rejoice.

In verse 43a the Hebrew text is “you turned back the rock of his sword.” Most commentators associate “rock” here with flint (stone) knives (see Exo 4.25; Josh 5.2, 3) and translate the phrase “the blade of his sword” (so New Jerusalem Bible) or the edge of his sword (so An American Translation, Revised Standard Version); New English Bible, New American Bible have “his sharp sword.” Bible de Jérusalem and New Jerusalem Bible emend the text to get “you have snapped off his sword on a rock”; this emendation, however, is not necessary. The figure is that of God himself foiling the king’s attack and allowing the enemy to defeat him. Good News Translation has shifted to the generic “weapons.” In those languages which have no generic term such as weapons, it will be necessary to shift to a descriptive clause and say, for example, “You have taken away from him the things he uses in fighting” or “You have ruined for him the things he uses in fighting.”

Line b means “you have not given him victory in battle” or “you have not supported him in battle” (Bible en français courant, New International Version).

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 .