4 `Jehovah `is' in his holy temple: Jehovah -- in the heavens `is' His throne. His eyes see -- His eyelids try the sons of men.
Jehovah in the heavens Hath established His throne, And His kingdom over all hath ruled.
In mine adversity I call Jehovah, And unto my God I cry. He heareth from His temple my voice, And My cry before Him cometh into His ears.
And Jehovah `is' in His holy temple, Be silent before Him, all the earth!
Thus said Jehovah: The heavens `are' My throne, And the earth My footstool, Where `is' this -- the house that ye build for Me? And where `is' this -- the place -- My rest?
The heaven `is' My throne, and the earth My footstool; what house will ye build to Me? saith the Lord, or what `is' the place of My rest?
In every place are the eyes of Jehovah, Watching the evil and the good.
He who is sitting in the heavens doth laugh, The Lord doth mock at them.
who is opposing and is raising himself up above all called God or worshipped, so that he in the sanctuary of God as God hath sat down, shewing himself off that he is God -- `the day doth not come'.
And the cloud covereth the tent of meeting, and the honour of Jehovah hath filled the tabernacle; and Moses hath not been able to go in unto the tent of meeting, for the cloud hath tabernacled on it, and the honour of Jehovah hath filled the tabernacle.
and he who did swear by the sanctuary, doth swear by it, and by Him who is dwelling in it;
Hear, O peoples, all of them! Attend, O earth, and its fulness, And the Lord Jehovah is against you for a witness, The Lord from His holy temple.
Is any one hidden in secret places, And I see him not? an affirmation of Jehovah, Do not I fill the heavens and the earth? An affirmation of Jehovah.
Ruling by His might to the age, His eyes among the nations do watch, The refractory exalt not themselves. Selah.
Doth not God search out this? For He knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Sing ye praise to Jehovah, inhabiting Zion, Declare ye among the peoples His acts,
for Jehovah -- His eyes go to and fro in all the earth, to show Himself strong `for' a people whose heart `is' perfect towards Him; thou hast been foolish concerning this, because -- henceforth there are with thee wars.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 11
Commentary on Psalms 11 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Refusal to Flee When in a Perilous Situation.
Psalms 11:1-7, which likewise confidently sets the all-seeing eye of Jahve before the ungodly who carry out their murderous designs under cover of the darkness, is placed after Ps 10. The life of David (to whom even Hitzig and Ewald ascribe this Psalm) is threatened, the pillars of the state are shaken, they counsel the king to flee to the mountains. These are indications of the time when the rebellion of Absolom was secretly preparing, but still clearly discernible. Although hurrying on with a swift measure and clear in the principal thoughts, still this Psalm is not free from difficult points, just as it is with all the Psalms which contain similar dark passages from the internal condition of Israel. The gloomy condition of the nation seems to be reflected in the very language. The strophic plan is not easily discernible; nevertheless we cannot go far wrong in dividing the Psalm into two seven line strophes with a two line epiphonema .
David rejects the advice of his friends to save his life by flight. Hidden in Jahve (Psalms 16:1; Psalms 36:8) he needs no other refuge. However well-meant and well-grounded the advice, he considers it too full of fear and is himself too confident in God, to follow it. David also introduces his friends as speaking in other passages in the Psalms belonging to the period of the Absolom persecution, Psalms 3:3; Psalms 4:7. Their want of courage, which he afterwards had to reprove and endeavour to restore, showed itself even before the storm had burst, as we see here. With the words “how can you say” he rejects their proposal as unreasonable, and turns it as a reproach against them. If the Chethמb , נוּדוּ , is adopted, then those who are well-disposed, say to David, including with him his nearest subjects who are faithful to him: retreat to your mountain, (ye) birds ( צפּור collective as in Psalms 8:9; Psalms 148:10); or, since this address sounds too derisive to be appropriate to the lips of those who are supposed to be speaking here: like birds ( comparatio decurtata as in Psalms 22:14; Psalms 58:9; Psalms 24:5; Psalms 21:8). הרכס which seems more natural in connection with the vocative rendering of צפור (cf. Isaiah 18:6 with Ezekiel 39:4) may also be explained, with the comparative rendering, without any need for the conjecture הר כמו צפור (cf. Deuteronomy 33:19), as a retrospective glance at the time of the persecution under Saul: to the mountains, which formerly so effectually protected you (cf. 1 Samuel 26:20; 1 Samuel 23:14). But the Kerî , which is followed by the ancient versions, exchanges נודו for גוּדי , cf שׁחי Isaiah 51:23. Even reading it thus we should not take צפור , which certainly is epicoene, as vocative: flee to your mountain, O bird (Hitz.); and for this reason, that this form of address is not appropriate to the idea of those who profer their counsel. But we should take it as an equation instead of a comparison: fly to your mountain (which gave you shelter formerly), a bird, i.e., after the manner of a bird that flies away to its mountain home when it is chased in the plain. But this Kerî appears to be a needless correction, which removes the difficulty of נודו coming after לנפשׁי , by putting another in the place of this synallage numeri .
(Note: According to the above rendering: “Flee ye to your mountain, a bird” it would require to be accented נודו הרכם צפוז (as a transformation from נודו הרכם צפור vid., Baer's Accentssystem XVIII. 2). The interpunction as we have it, נודו הרכם צפור , harmonises with the interpretation of Varenius as of Löb Spira ( Pentateuch-Comm. 1815): Fugite (o socii Davidis), mons vester (h. e. praesidium vestrum, Psalms 30:8, cui innitimini) est avis errans.)