The psalmist consciously regards his work as a written record of Yahweh’s soon-to-come intervention. There is uncertainty over what this in Let this be recorded in verse 18a refers to. Some take it to mean the author’s own words in verses 13-17 (so Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, which places verse 18 as the last verse of the preceding strophe). Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and New International Version take it to refer to verses 19-20; Revised Standard Version, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible and Dahood take it to be verses 19-22; Good News Translation takes it to refer to the coming intervention of Yahweh on behalf of his people–“what the LORD has done.” The author is writing of the future event as though it had already taken place, and this is the meaning the translator should try to convey. In verse 18b people yet unborn (literally “a created people”) is parallel with a generation to come in line a; some take it to mean “a recreated people” (see Bible en français courant), that is, the Israelites freed from exile and once again a nation (see Cohen). In verse 18b the name Yah is used (see 68.4). The sudden insertion of a command in verse 18a will cause problems of understanding in many languages, as it is necessary to make clear who is making the command as well as who is addressed. Therefore it may be necessary to say “I the psalmist say ‘Write down…’ ” or “ ‘Let someone write down,’ I, the psalmist, say this.” A people yet unborn may be misunderstood by readers as “before birth people will praise the LORD.” To avoid this problem it may be necessary to say, for example, “people who will be born later” or “people who will come after us.”

What the LORD will do is to be written down as though it were in the past, because it will have happened when future people read it; it is described in verses 19-20. He will look down from his dwelling place in heaven (from his holy height, from heaven) to earth, to the place where his people are (see similar language in 14.2; 33.13-14); he will take notice of the suffering of his people and set them free. The translator should make certain that the reader understands that the two halves of verse 19 are parallel and do not refer to two different kinds of height.

In verse 20 the prisoners and those who were doomed to die (literally “the sons of death,” as in 79.11) are the Israelites in exile. Who were doomed to die will have to be recast in languages which do not use a passive; for example, “those of our tribe whom the enemy has decided to kill.”

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 .