Psalms 11 — with JFB Commentary
The King James text with the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown commentary (1871, public domain) directly beneath the verses it explains. Verses without a JFB note stand alone.
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1In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?
PSALM 11
Psa 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 (Psa 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).
2For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.
2. privily--literally, "in darkness," treacherously.
3If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
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.
4The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
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 (Psa 2:6; 3:4; 5:7). Thence He inspects men with close scrutiny.
5The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.
5. The trial of the righteous results in their approval, as it is contrasted with God's hatred to the wicked.
6Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.
6. Their punishment is described by vivid figures denoting abundant, sudden, furious, and utter destruction (compare Ge 19:24; Job 18:15; Psa 7:15; 9:15).
cup--is a frequent figure for God's favor or wrath (Psa 16:5; 23:5; Mt 20:22, 23).
7For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.
7. his countenance--literally, "their faces," a use of the plural applied to God, as in Ge 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Is 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" (Psa 11:4), expressing here God's complacency towards the upright (compare Psa 34:15, 16).