1 > In Yahweh, I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, "Flee as a bird to your mountain!"
2 For, behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrows on the strings, That they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?
4 Yahweh is in his holy temple. Yahweh is on his throne in heaven. His eyes observe. His eyes examine the children of men.
5 Yahweh examines the righteous, But the wicked and him who loves violence his soul hates.
6 On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; Fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For Yahweh is righteous. He loves righteousness. The upright shall see his face.
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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).