2 For behold, the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may in darkness shoot at the upright in heart.
And when it was day, the Jews, having banded together, put themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they should kill Paul. And they were more than forty who had joined together in this oath; and they went to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have cursed ourselves with a curse to taste nothing until we kill Paul. Now therefore do ye with the council make a representation to the chiliarch so that he may bring him down to you, as about to determine more precisely what concerns him, and we, before he draws near, are ready to kill him.
Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword, [and] have aimed their arrow, a bitter word; That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. They encourage themselves in an evil matter, they concert to hide snares; they say, Who will see them?
He sitteth in the lurking-places of the villages; in the secret places doth he slay the innocent: his eyes watch for the wretched. He lieth in wait secretly, like a lion in his thicket; he lieth in wait to catch the afflicted: he doth catch the afflicted, drawing him into his net.
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Commentary on Psalms 11 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 11
Ps 11:1-7. On title, see Introduction. Alluding to some event in his history, as in 1Sa 23:13, the Psalmist avows his confidence in God, when admonished to flee from his raging persecutors, whose destruction of the usual foundations of safety rendered all his efforts useless. The grounds of his confidence are God's supreme dominion, His watchful care of His people, His hatred to the wicked and judgments on them, and His love for righteousness and the righteous.
1. my soul—me (Ps 3:2).
Flee—literally, "flee ye"; that is, he and his companion.
as a bird to your mountain—having as such no safety but in flight (compare 1Sa 26:20; La 3:52).
2. privily—literally, "in darkness," treacherously.
3. Literally, "The foundations (that is, of good order and law) will be destroyed, what has the righteous done (to sustain them)?" All his efforts have failed.
4. temple … heaven—The connection seems to denote God's heavenly residence; the term used is taken from the place of His visible earthly abode (Ps 2:6; 3:4; 5:7). Thence He inspects men with close scrutiny.
5. The trial of the righteous results in their approval, as it is contrasted with God's hatred to the wicked.
6. Their punishment is described by vivid figures denoting abundant, sudden, furious, and utter destruction (compare Ge 19:24; Job 18:15; Ps 7:15; 9:15).
cup—is a frequent figure for God's favor or wrath (Ps 16:5; 23:5; Mt 20:22, 23).
7. his countenance—literally, "their faces," a use of the plural applied to God, as in Ge 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Isa 6:8, &c., denoting the fulness of His perfections, or more probably originating in a reference to the trinity of persons. "Faces" is used as "eyes" (Ps 11:4), expressing here God's complacency towards the upright (compare Ps 34:15, 16).