a basis · definite article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
destroyed
יֵֽהָרֵס֑וּןye.ha.re.Sun
H2040
to pull down or in pieces · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + paragogic nun
righteous
צַ֝דִּ֗יקtza.Dik
H6662
just · adjective, masculine singular absolute
do
פָּעָֽלpa.'Al
H6466
to do or make (systematically and habitually) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 82:5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the n…
Isaiah 58:12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be…
Psalms 75:3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.
Acts 4:24-33 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth…
2 Kings 19:13-18 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?
2 Chronicles 32:13-15 Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands? were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to…
Nehemiah 6:10-12 Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 11:1-3
Here is, I. David's fixed resolution to make God his confidence: In the Lord put I my trust, Psa 11:1. Those that truly fear God and serve him are welcome to put their trust in him, and shall not be made ashamed of their doing so. And it is the character of the saints, who have taken God for their God, that they make him their hope. Even when they have other things to stay themselves upon, yet they do not, they dare not, stay upon them, but on God only. Gold is not their hope, nor are horses and chariots their confidence, but God only; and therefore, when second causes frown, yet their hopes do not fail them, because the first cause is still the same, is ever so. The psalmist, before he give…
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.
John Gill on Psalms 11:3
If the foundations be destroyed,.... Or, "for the foundations are destroyed" (s); all things are out of order and course both in church and state; the laws, which are the foundations of government, are despised and disregarded; judgment is perverted, and justice stands afar off; the doctrines and principles of religion are derided and subverted; so that there is no standing, either in a political or religious sense. Jarchi interprets this of the priests of the Lord, the righteous, who are the foundations of the world, particularly the priests of Nob, slain by Doeg. Other Jewish writers, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, understand it of the purposes and counsels, nets and snares, laid by…
Psalm 11:1-3
1. In Jehovah do I put my trust: how then say ye to my soul, Flee ye into your mountain as a bird? 2. Surely, behold! the ungodly shall bend [236] their bow, they have fixed their arrows upon the string, to shoot secretly at the upright in heart. 3. Truly, the foundations are destroyed: what [237] hath the righteous One done?
1. In Jehovah do I put my trust. Almost all interpreters think that this is a complaint which David brings against his countrymen, that while seeking in every quarter for hiding-places, he could find nowhere even common humanity. And it is indeed true, that in the whole course of his wanderings, after betaking himself to flight to escape the cruelty of Sa…
The Church Fathers
Heretics … have destroyed the law of the Lord … by false interpretations, changes resulting in the death of some, while the Scriptures were intended to serve as the Lord's prophets for our salvation.
That which you have framed they have pulled down. Those were the seeds of the best ideas grafted by nature, which God impresses on each person, placing within their spirit the knowledge that is called natural.
For they have destroyed the things which you have perfected. And this too those who above still speak either to any just man or to the Lord: Therefore you must return to the heavenly things, because both the adversaries are so bravely prepared for the fight, and whatever you build up, they demolish. For daily they undermine your precepts and the law written in the hearts of believers, and by persuading diverse things they overturn them. But what did the just man do? This is understood in various ways. Either concerning the person of the just man, in this manner: While they strive to destroy the laws of God, the just man has done nothing worthy of ruin, and in vain suffers their snares; or certainly, while they oppose and attempt to destroy God's commandments, the just man does this one thing only: that he implore the help of him who dwells in his holy temple, whose throne is in heaven, and whose eyes look upon the poor man, that he may rescue him from the snares prepared. But concerning the person of God in this manner: Although the adversaries are prepared for battle, and lie in wait in secret like a lion in his den, that in hidden places they may kill the innocent and destroy the temple of God, yet the Lord dwells in his holy temple, and never is either temple or throne wanting to him, because as some fall others rise.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Naioth — Dwellings, the name given to the prophetical college established by Samuel near Ramah. It consisted of a cluster of separate dwellings, and hence its name. David took refuge here when he fled from…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
David rejects the advice of his friends to save his life by flight. Hidden in Jahve (Psa 16:1; Psa 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, Psa 3:3; Psa 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 Chethb, נוּדוּ, i…
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
It was equally correct that the very foundations of law and justice were destroyed under Saul's unrighteous government: but what were all these things to the man whose trust was in God alone? He could brave the dangers, could escape the enemies, and defy the injustice which surrounded him. His answer to the question, "What can the righteous do?" would be the counter-question, "What cannot they do?" When prayer engages God on our side, and when faith secures the fulfillment of the promise, what cause can there be for flight, however cruel and mighty our enemies? With a sling and a stone, David had smitten a giant before whom the who…
