| Psalm 11 | |
| Subtitle: | "In the LORD put I my trust" |
| Image Upright: | 1.2 |
| Other Name: |
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| Language: | Hebrew (original) |
Psalm 11 is the eleventh psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?" In the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, it is psalm 10, in a slightly different numbering, "In Domino confido".[1] Its authorship is traditionally assigned to King David, but most scholars place its origin some time after the end of the Babylonian captivity.[2]
The psalm forms a regular part of Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies. It was set to music by composers including Heinrich Schütz, Joseph Stephenson and Benjamin Cooke.
The following table shows the Hebrew text[3] [4] of the Psalm with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain).
| Verse | Hebrew | English translation (JPS 1917) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | For the Leader. [A Psalm] of David. In the LORD have I taken refuge; how say ye to my soul: 'Flee thou! to your mountain, ye birds'? | |
| 2 | For, lo, the wicked bend the bow, they have made ready their arrow upon the string, that they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. | |
| 3 | When the foundations are destroyed, what hath the righteous wrought? | |
| 4 | The LORD is in His holy temple, the LORD, His throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men. | |
| 5 | The LORD trieth the righteous; but the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth. | |
| 6 | Upon the wicked He will cause to rain coals; fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the portion of their cup. | |
| 7 | For the LORD is righteous, He loveth righteousness; the upright shall behold His face. | |
The shape of this psalm differs from the usual scheme,[5] for which the Old Testament scholar Hermann Gunkel finally assigns as a "confidence Psalm in the form of conversation". Erhard S. Gerstenberger calls the psalm a "disputierendes prayer" within the genus of Lamentations of an individual.[6] has the psalm as a song of prayer.[7]
Usually, the Psalm is organized as follows:[8]
A division into verses is sometimes not done.[9]
The psalm is strongly individual. calls this the personal testimony of persecution, who have opted for the legal process.[10] Hermann Gunkel agrees calling it the "subjective response of a single poet to an involuntary emergency". sees the psalm as "a product of post-exil scriptural scholarship that seeks to modernise traditional text" "ein Produkt nachexilischer Schriftgelehrsamkeit, die die Texte der Tradition modernisieren will").[5] [9] [11]
The psalm leads off with a question which is put to the writer's soul: 'Why should I flee like a bird to the mountains?' Barnes and many others see the fleeing as negative and running away rather than trusting God.[12] The Psalmist instead resolves to trust God. There is an irony in that David often did flee from Saul to the mountains, but in the long run became King in Jerusalem in 1 Sam chapters 21 through 23.[13] Additionally there is a contrast with Psalm 7: the wicked shoot arrows at the righteous in Psalm 11, but in Psalm 7 God readied his bow and arrows for the wicked.[14] There is also a tension: God is felt to be far away and unresponsive - but He is not and that tension also appears in other Psalms, such as in Psalm 22.
According to the Rule of St. Benedict (530AD), Psalm 1 to Psalm 20 were mainly reserved for Office of Prime. This psalm was traditionally performed at the Office of Prime on Wednesday.[15]
In the current liturgy, Psalm 11 is, most solemnly recited or sung during vespers on Monday of the first week.[16]
In the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, this psalm is appointed to be read on the morning of the second day of the month.[17]
Heinrich Schütz set a metred hymn paraphrasing Psalm 11 in German, "Ich trau auf Gott, was soll's denn sein", SWV 107, included in the Becker Psalter. Joseph Stephenson included a paraphrase in English, "Since I have plac'd my trust in God", in his 1757 collection Church Harmony, Sacred to Devotion. Benjamin Cooke wrote a setting of a metred paraphrase in English of verses 1–3, "On God My Steadfast Hopes Rely", published in 1794.