Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they are breathing out violence. I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27: 11-14)

"I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living" is an interesting way to render verse 13. This is the New Revised Standard Version.

The New American Standard offers, "I would have despaired unless I believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."

In my judgment both translations work too hard to make explicit that which is implicit.

The 1917 JPS Old Testament gives us: "If I had not believed to look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!--" This strikes me as closest to the original Hebrew. The prospect of non-belief is so awful... I cannot say it.

In the spiritual domain the opposite of belief is the absence of hope. Despair is the removal of hope. As Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp has taught, "“We can live for a week without any food, we can survive days without water, but we cannot live even one moment without hope."

The innocent are abused. The weak are oppressed. The good are ridiculed. The wise are exiled. Jesus has died.

Still I hope. Still I have confidence that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.