In this closing statement the psalmist reaffirms his faith in Yahweh’s justice.

For stronghold and the rock of my refuge in verse 22, see 9.9; 14.6; 18.2. Only here does the particular combination the rock of my refuge occur.

The thought of verse 23a is similar to that found in 54.5 (see also 5.10); wipe … out in line b translates a verb meaning “to put to silence,” that is, to kill (see 18.40b). New Jerusalem Bible translates “annihilate.”

The Good News Translation expressions “for their wickedness” and “for their sins” are synonymous and must be recast in many languages to say, for example, “because they have done evil acts” or “because they have been bad people.”

The Masoretic text repeats the verbal phrase in lines b and c, “he will destroy them” (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and others); some Hebrew manuscripts and the Septuagint omit the first one, so that the text reads “and Yahweh our God will destroy them for their sins” (so New English Bible).

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 .