Psalms 11: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The psalm opens with the writer saying he takes refuge in the LORD, and asking why people tell him to run away to the mountains like a bird because the wicked are secretly aiming arrows at honest people and the foundations are being torn down. The answer is that the LORD is in his holy temple and on his throne in heaven, watching and testing people. The psalm ends by saying the LORD tests the righteous, hates those who love violence, will pour out fire and burning sulfur and a raging storm on the wicked, and loves what is right.

Claim by Claim

1. 11:1
   • The speaker has taken refuge in the LORD.
   • The speaker asks how his addressers can say to him what they say.
   • They tell his soul to flee to the mountain.
   • The flight is described with reference to a bird, either as a comparison ('flee like a bird') or as an address ('flee, O bird'), and the text does not resolve which.
   • The command as written is addressed to more than one person while the mountain is spoken of as belonging to a group.
2. 11:2
   • The wicked bend their bow.
   • The wicked have set their arrow on the string.
   • Their purpose is to shoot at the upright in heart.
   • They shoot from darkness.
3. 11:3
   • A condition is stated: if the foundations are torn down.
   • A question is asked: what has the righteous one done, or what can the righteous one do.
4. 11:4
   • The LORD is in his holy temple.
   • The LORD's throne is in heaven.
   • His eyes see.
   • His gaze tests the sons of men.
5. 11:5
   • The LORD tests the righteous.
   • The LORD's soul hates the wicked one.
   • The LORD's soul hates the one who loves violence.
6. 11:6
   • He will rain snares upon the wicked.
   • He will rain fire and brimstone upon the wicked.
   • He will rain a scorching wind upon the wicked.
   • This is the portion of their cup.
7. 11:7
   • The LORD is righteous.
   • The LORD loves righteous deeds.
   • Concerning the upright and the LORD's face, the text can mean either that the upright will behold his face or that his face beholds the upright.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

11:1

LORD in capital letters stands in for the personal name of God (the four Hebrew letters YHWH), which Jewish readers did not say aloud; English translations have marked it this way since the sixteenth century. "Flee to your mountain" is advice to run for the hills, the rough hill country with its caves was where fugitives from armed enemies hid. The speaker is quoting advice given to him and rejecting it.

11:2

"Heart" in Hebrew means the mind and will, the place where a person thinks and decides, rather than the feelings. People "upright in heart" are straight in their intentions, not warm in their emotions. Shooting from cover was the tactic of ambush and assassination, and the bow drawn in secret was a standard image for plotting and slander.

11:3

"Foundations" is a building word: the base courses a structure stands on. Here it refers to the settled order of law and justice that holds a society up. Where the quoted advice ends is disputed, the question may still be part of what the frightened advisers are saying in verses 1-3, or it may be the psalmist's own.

11:4

The Hebrew word behind "temple" means a palace as well as a sanctuary, and the verse pairs it with a throne in heaven, so the picture is a royal throne room. "His eyelids try" is a Hebrew idiom for narrowing the eyes to look hard at something; "try" in 1611 English meant to test or assay, as a metalworker tests ore for purity, not to attempt.

11:5

"Tests" is again the metalworker's word for assaying metal in fire to find out whether it is genuine. The Hebrew of the first line is ambiguous: it can be read as "tests the righteous and the wicked" (both alike) or, as here, "tests the righteous, but hates the wicked." "His soul" in Hebrew means his whole self, not a part of him.

11:6

"Brimstone" is the old English word for sulfur, which burns with a choking flame; fire and sulfur raining down recalls the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. A "cup" in Hebrew usage is the share poured out for a person at a meal, and so stands for the lot or fate assigned to them; "portion" is the measured amount served.

11:7

"Countenance" means face. To see a king's face meant being admitted to his presence and received in favor; to be shut out from it meant disgrace. The Hebrew here can be read either way (either God's face looks on the upright, or the upright will see his face) and translations divide on it.