The opening words in Hebrew are literally “Listen LORD (to) justice,” but there is no preposition governing the noun translated “justice.” Most translations take the word here to mean “a plea for justice.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “Lord, I want justice.” The Greek translation by Aquila, and Jerome, both translate as though the Hebrew text were “(to) a righteous man,” which Briggs prefers. This expression must in some languages be restructured as a temporal clause, and just cause must often be rendered as an event which God does; for example, “Hear me, LORD, when I beg you to do the right thing” or, idiomatically, “Hear me, LORD, when I ask you to set me on the right path.”
The three parallel verbs, Hear, attend, Give ear, are varieties of ways of saying the same thing: “listen … pay attention … hear.”
The word translated my cry means a loud cry, either of joy or despair, according to the context.
My prayer from lips free of deceit is a literal translation of the Hebrew text, which Good News Translation renders more simply as “my honest prayer.” See also comment on “deceitful” in 5.6. It is a sincere, truthful prayer that he addresses to God. Bible en français courant translates “(my prayer) comes from a sincere heart.” If the translator follows Good News Translation‘s “honest prayer,” it may be necessary to recast this expression, since in many languages “honest” may be used in reference to people but not to prayers. Two examples are “Listen, LORD, to the prayer of an honest man” or “Listen, LORD, to the words an honest man prays.” This may be expressed idiomatically as “Listen, LORD, to the prayer of a man with a white heart.”
Some translations make the last line a reason clause explaining why the LORD should hear his prayer; for example, “because my words do not come from lips that tell lies.”
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 .