4 The Lord is in his holy Temple, the Lord's seat is in heaven; his eyes are watching and testing the children of men.
The Lord has made ready his high seat in the heavens; his kingdom is ruling over all.
In my trouble my voice went up to the Lord, and my cry to my God: my voice came to his hearing in his holy Temple, and my prayer came before him, even into his ears.
But the Lord is in his holy Temple: let all the earth be quiet before him.
The Lord says, Heaven is the seat of my power, and earth is the resting-place for my feet: what sort of house will you make for me, and what place will be my resting-place?
Heaven is the seat of my power, and earth is a resting-place for my feet: what sort of house will you make for me, says the Lord, or what is my place of rest?
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Then he whose seat is in the heavens will be laughing: the Lord will make sport of them.
Who puts himself against all authority, lifting himself up over all which is named God or is given worship; so that he takes his seat in the Temple of God, putting himself forward as God.
Then the cloud came down covering the Tent of meeting, and the House was full of the glory of the Lord; So that Moses was not able to go into the Tent of meeting, because the cloud was resting on it, and the House was full of the glory of the Lord.
And he who takes an oath by the Temple, takes it by the Temple and by him whose house it is.
Give ear, you peoples, all of you; give attention, O earth and everything in it: let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy Temple.
In what secret place may a man take cover without my seeing him? says the Lord. Is there any place in heaven or earth where I am not? says the Lord.
He is ruling in power for ever; his eyes are watching the nations: may his haters have no strength against him. (Selah.)
Will not God make search for it? for he sees the secrets of the heart.
Make songs of praise to the Lord, whose house is in Zion: make his doings clear to the people.
For the eyes of the Lord go this way and that, through all the earth, letting it be seen that he is the strong support of those whose hearts are true to him. In this you have done foolishly, for from now you will have 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.)